All right, well I want to begin of course by saying thank you to Pastor Anderson and
Ms. Susana for their friendship and of course their hospitality and thank you to all of
you for coming out this morning and there's a great, great crowd here on a Saturday morning
and I appreciate you being here and of course this has been a great conference.
I've heard some great preaching and I can tell you that I have been encouraged and motivated
on the subject of missions and I'm excited about missions and I'm glad to be here.
So of course this morning I'm preaching on the subject of missions in the United Kingdom
or missions in the UK and we did a missions trip to the United Kingdom so that's what
I'm going to be preaching about this morning.
I want to say that the decorations are great.
The decorations are amazing for Europe and specifically for the UK and so thank you very
much to everybody that helped with that and I want to talk about missions in the UK and
I was trying to think of a more exciting sermon title but I'm not very good at titling sermons
so I'm just going to go with missions in the United Kingdom or missions in the UK but another
possible title for the sermon is how to reach the white man and so we're going to, if that's,
maybe that will get more clicks online, I'm not sure.
But let me just begin by, of course these sermons are kind of difficult to preach sometimes
or to write because they're like a sermon and Pastor Thompson mentioned this, they're
a mixture of a sermon and a testimony and a book report and a geographical regional
lesson.
So let me just begin by talking a little bit about the United Kingdom and of course we
went out to the United Kingdom.
My family and I went out in August of this year, August 21st through 31st is why we were
there and of course we were there with Pastor Ian Tavener and the Strong Tower Baptist Church
and Pastor Aaron Thompson and Sure Foundation Baptist Church actually started the church
in the UK which shouldn't surprise you because he pretty much starts every church that gets
started but they started the church out there and they invited us and Pastor Thompson graciously
allowed me to preach the UK sermon because it's the only missions trip I took this year.
I didn't go to Yakima but I do want to say that of course Pastor Thompson trained Pastor
Tavener and we were there on the weekend that he got ordained and of course I enjoyed getting
to meet the Tavener family and they're doing a great work there at Strong Tower Baptist
Church.
So let me begin like I said with a little bit of kind of the geography of the United
Kingdom.
While we were there, let me just say this, we were there for 10 days, we had a big soul
winning marathon in London, we went soul winning five different times, had four different church
services, I'll give you some stats later on.
Of course while we were there we saw the sites, we saw Big Ben, we actually went into Buckingham
Palace and did a tour, we saw the Tower Bridge, the British Museum, Hampton Court where the
King James Bible was commissioned was my favorite thing that we did there.
So we had a great time.
So Americans might be a little confused about the geography of the United Kingdom so I'll
do my best to try to help you understand it because it kind of had to be explained to
me when I was there and what you want to consider, you want to think about the fact that there's
an area called the British Isles.
And the British Isles is pretty much two large islands and the two large islands are Great
Britain and then the island of Ireland.
And Great Britain is a big island that is divided into three sections.
You have England, you have Wales, and you have Scotland.
So the island of Great Britain is made up of England, Wales, and Scotland and then you
have this other island, Ireland, and that is divided into two sections.
You have the Republic of Ireland and then you have the section called Northern Ireland.
So the UK or the United Kingdom is actually Great Britain which is England, Wales, and
Scotland and Northern Ireland but not the Republic of Ireland.
So hopefully that makes sense and that's the way the geography goes there and it's
pretty interesting.
But let's get to the part that Baptists actually care about.
Let's talk about the food, all right, just real quickly.
Because obviously we're Baptists and we like to eat.
And you know, when I hear about, I miss the percentage for Nagaland, was it like 90% Baptists?
Where's Brother Rader?
Is he here?
93%.
93% Baptists, that's what I thought.
That's amazing.
When I hear there's an area in the world that's 93% Baptists and then he's like, they eat
dogs, they eat rats, I'm like, yeah, that makes sense because Baptists like to eat,
you know what I mean?
And it's very important to us.
So let me just, obviously there's traditional English food which we loved.
It was amazing while we were there.
The taverners had us over for dinner.
They had like a traditional English shoulder roast and it was great.
They have shepherd's pie and things like that.
And all of that was great, of course.
What England is known for is the fish and chips, which are amazing.
And if you've never had fish and chips in England, you have not had fish and chips,
all right?
Because I liked fish and chips even before I went to England, to the UK.
But here in the United States, fish and chips, what they give you is like strips of fish,
you know what I mean?
And of course the fries that come with it.
But in England, you get an actual fish.
Like it's a fish with the head cut off and it's fried.
You get the whole fish and it is delicious, all right?
So fish and chips is definitely the number one thing there.
And their big thing is fish and chips.
But let me just say this, the chips, they sell everywhere.
And chips are French fries.
The English don't call them French fries because they don't like the French.
But they call them chips.
But I love fries.
Like I could eat fries with any meal.
And they sell fries everywhere there or chips everywhere there.
So I mean literally we took our kids to get some donuts in the morning and I ordered a
side of chips with our donuts.
So fish and chips are great.
Chips are everywhere.
Traditional British breakfast is really nice.
Of course they've got eggs and things like that.
What they call bacon is not what we call bacon.
What they call bacon and they have every morning is what we call Christmas ham.
So what they call bacon is just a big slab of ham.
And they do this thing where they eat these full tomatoes.
They cut these tomatoes in half and cook them and eat them.
Also with the traditional British breakfast comes beans.
So they have beans with breakfast.
They eat beans there.
Which is kind of interesting.
They don't have any ranch, all right?
It's an American thing.
So you just got to know that.
We were at a restaurant and we asked for ranch and the lady was like, do you mean mayonnaise?
And we're like, no.
And then we were talking to somebody at the church about it and they were like, yeah,
we don't have ranch.
And they were even like, doesn't that just sound American, ranch?
And it's like, yeah, okay.
So they don't have ranch.
They do have chips everywhere.
Just some observations though.
And this is really interesting.
To me it's interesting.
Every restaurant we went to served chorizo, all right?
Now I grew up in California in the Bay Area.
I grew up around a bunch of Mexican people and the Mexican culture.
So to me chorizo has always been like a Mexican thing.
But every restaurant in the UK had on its menu that I saw, they sold chorizo.
Also every restaurant in the UK, which I love this, sold what we would call Mexican cokes.
They sold glass bottled cokes.
And I think the reason for that is because they're pretty healthy over there and I think
high fructose corn syrup is illegal.
So they only, you know, every restaurant sold the glass bottled cokes.
Every restaurant was selling chorizo.
They were serving beans with breakfast.
And these are all like Mexican culture to me, right?
So I'm kind of wondering like, are these people like white Mexicans?
And then, and then we were out soil winning and I saw a white guy landscaping.
And I said, they are white Mexicans.
So anyway, I'm sure that's a conspiracy.
I'm not sure what the connection is there.
You guys don't even have landscapers here, I don't think.
So maybe you don't know what I'm talking about.
Does somebody come and mow your rocks?
I'm not sure.
But anyway, the food is delicious.
The food is great.
We had a great time while we were there.
And hopefully that's enough geography.
I'll give you more information as we go along.
I'd like to give you three thoughts this morning regarding the United Kingdom and missions
in the UK.
I'd like to give you, like I said, this is kind of a missions report, so I'd like to
give you three thoughts regarding the United Kingdom.
And if you'd like to write these down, I always encourage people to take notes while the preaching
of the word of God is going on, of course.
And if you'd like to, you can write these statements down.
The first report from the UK, the first thing I'd like to report on, the first thing I'd
like to highlight is the remnant in the UK.
The remnant in the UK from missions.
And of course, when you think about the United Kingdom and when you think about Europe in
general, as far as spirituality is concerned, we often think that the UK and the rest of
Europe is a spiritually dark place.
And in Amos chapter 8 and verse 11, we have this verse, and of course this verse is not
about the UK or about Europe, it's about the end times.
But I think there's a spiritual theme or application that we could see here.
In Amos chapter 8 and verse 11, the Bible says, Behold, the days come.
And again, this is future prophecy, this is end times prophecy.
The days come, saith the Lord, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of
bread nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.
And notice verse 12, And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to
the east.
They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.
And of course, we understand that this passage is prophetically speaking about coming a future
day in the end times.
This is the time that is referred to as the falling away.
It is a time, the Bible says, when men will not endure sound doctrine.
And I think this is a passage that could be applied to the UK and the continent of Europe.
There's a day that there is a famine of the hearing of the word of the Lord.
And not only that, but there are people that are traveling all over Europe, and some of
them are here, here at this missions conference.
I've met people from Poland, from Croatia, from France, from different parts of the world,
of course from England.
And there are people all over Europe who are seeking for the word of the Lord and they're
not finding it.
Because of the fact that the UK is a spiritually dark place.
I'd like to just read a little excerpt from an article regarding the spiritual state of
the UK.
I'll just read this quickly.
It says this, The relatively large number of individuals with nominal or no religious
affiliations has led various commentators to describe the United Kingdom as a multi-faith
and secularized society.
Other major surveys which ask a differently worded question find a majority of people
in the UK do not belong to a religion.
British society is one of the most secularized in the world.
And in many surveys determining religious beliefs of the population, agnosticism, non-theism,
atheism, secular humanism, and non-affiliation are views shared by a large percentage of
Britons.
So of course the UK and Europe is considered a post-Christian secular society.
Spiritually it is a dark place.
And please understand me when I say this, when I bring this point up, I'm not down on
the UK and I'm not saying this as a criticism.
In fact, I can connect with them because the place where I minister, the state of California,
is also a dark place, is also a secular place, a liberal place, and it's something that we
need to acknowledge.
What we need to remember is this, that the light of the gospel of Christ shines brightest
in the darkest regions.
And the fact that the UK and Europe is a spiritually dark place is not me saying, so let's not
go there and let's just forget about it, but we need to acknowledge the fact that there's
a need.
There is a need that is great there in that part of the world.
I'd like you to go with me if you would to the book of Romans, Romans chapter number
11.
In the New Testament you've got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and then the book of Romans
of course.
Romans chapter number 11.
And though the UK, and like I said, the rest of Europe, today is Europe Day, and most of
Europe is a spiritually dark place, I will say this, that the UK and the rest of Europe
has a faithful remnant of believers.
There is a faithful remnant of believers in the United Kingdom, there is a faithful remnant
of believers in Europe, and I will say this, I'm in trouble with this button, that there
is a faithful remnant of believers, I believe, everywhere in the world.
There are people that are saved all over the world.
In Romans chapter 11 we have the apostle Paul writing to the church at Rome, and I want
you to notice what he says, and he's writing in the first century, and he says this, Romans
11 verse 1, I say then, hath God cast away his people?
And of course he is referring to saved Israelites, he's referring to people that are descendants
of Abraham that are saved, and he's talking about in the first century, and he says, hath
God cast away his people?
And he says, God forbid, for I am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
So I want you to understand what Paul is saying, Paul is talking in the first century, and
of course during his time, most Jews are not believers, most Jews are not saved, most Jews
are not receiving the gospel or believing on the gospel, but Paul is making the argument
that there is still a remnant.
He says, look, I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
Verse 2, God hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew, why ye not what the scriptures
saith of Elias?
And of course Elias is the Old Testament prophet Elijah, and now he's going to use an example,
and I want you to get this, he's talking in the first century about the fact that there's
still a remnant, and he uses an example from the Old Testament, many hundreds and thousands
of years before that, and he says this in verse number, notice verse number 2, and God
hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew, why ye not what the scriptures saith of Elias?
How he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, and he's quoting, and he's
going back to the story of Elijah in verse 3, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and
dig down thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
And this is of course Elijah, at a very low time in his ministry, when he's saying to
God, they've killed your prophets, they're trying to kill me, I'm the only one that's
standing for you, verse 4, but what saith the answer of God unto him?
I have reserved to myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of
Baal, even so then at this present time also.
I want you to notice what Paul is saying.
Back then, Elijah said, they've killed your prophets, I'm the only one left who's serving
you, and God said, that's not true, there's still a faithful remnant, there are still
seven thousand that have not bowed their knee to Baal, and then Paul, using that as an example,
verse 5 says, even so then at this present time also, there is a remnant according to
the election of grace.
So Paul uses an example from the Old Testament where God says, there's still a remnant, there's
still seven thousand that haven't bowed their knee to Baal, and Paul says, it's the same
way today in the first century, he says there are still some that have not bowed their knee
to Baal, and I say to you, tonight, in the 21st century, that there is still a remnant,
and in Europe, there are people that have not bowed their knee to Baal, there is a faithful
remnant in Europe, there is a faithful remnant all over the world. Much of the remnant in
the UK, I will say, at least what we're exposed to, a lot of it comes from the teaching and
preaching of the new IFB, and you're there in Romans chapter 11, I'd like you to go back
to Romans chapter 1, when we were there in Europe, when we were there in the UK, we met
people from all over Europe. Obviously there's people from all over England, Scotland, Ireland,
we met people from Budapest, Hungary, from Geneva, Switzerland, from Bucharest, Romania,
from the Netherlands, from Poland, I'm sure I'm forgetting other names, but there was
people from all over Europe there, and a lot of them had been reached through the teaching
and preaching of Pastor Anderson and Faith Forward Baptist Church, and of course other
new IFB churches, they had been reached through the preaching of Verity Baptist Church, and
I'm thankful for that, and I just want to say this as a testimony to Faith Forward Baptist
Church, I believe it's true of Verity Baptist Church, and I believe it's true of all of
the churches in the new IFB, Romans 1.8, Paul said to the church of Rome, first I thank
my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole
world, and I would say to Faith Forward Baptist Church, your faith is spoken of throughout
the whole world, and I believe that we in the new IFB are making an impact, we are reaching
people with the Gospel, and as a result, there are many people in the UK and in Europe
that have been reached through the Gospel, and I would say this, we have to consider
the fact that there is a remnant, though it is a dark place spiritually, there is a remnant,
and my attitude is that we should not forget about them, I don't want you to turn here,
I'm going to read to you from 2 Kings 19, I'd like you to go to the book of Acts if
you would, you're there in Romans, so just go backwards to Acts, and I'll read to you
from 2 Kings 19, 2 Kings 19 and verse 4 says this, it may be the Lord thy God will hear
all the words of Rabshiqui, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to reproach
the living God, and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard, and then
I want you to notice, just listen to this statement from 2 Kings 19, he says, wherefore
lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left, and I believe that that's what we should
be doing today, we should lift up our prayer for the remnant that are left, we should try
to help people that are in places where they need help, where they need help establishing
churches, we should pray for them, we should not forget about them, and we should be available
to try to minister unto them, and look, though Europe is a spiritually dark place, there's
great things happening in Europe right now, and of course in the UK, there's Strong Tower
Baptist Church that Pastor Aaron Thompson and Sherr Foundation Baptist Church started
there, there's a church in Germany that has already started, there is a church in Poland
that is starting in December of this year, just in a few weeks there's a church in Poland,
and I want to just kind of, in case you don't know that, I want people to know that our
missionary, and look, at Verity Baptist Church we believe in missions, in fact we believe
in missions so much, we have a full time missionary, and his name is Pastor Stuckey, he's in the
Philippines, he's doing a great job, he started a church in Manila, and in Bicol and Papanga,
and he's continuing to do work, but Pastor Stuckey is sending a man by the name of Matthias
to Warsaw, Poland to start a church there, and it's going to be Verity Baptist Church
Warsaw, and Matthias is going there, he's been going to the church in the Philippines
and Manila since 2019, and he's been trained by Pastor Stuckey, and I just want to let
people know about that, because if you're in Poland, or anywhere near there, and you
can drive there, you should consider making that your church home, and let me just give
a shameless plug, if you need to contact the church over there, their email is VerityBaptistWarsaw
at gmail.com, of course you can find them on Facebook, Verity Baptist Church Warsaw,
or you can ask me, or just email Pastor Stuckey, but there is a church starting in Poland,
and as far as I know that's the third new IP church in Europe, and praise the Lord for
that, lots of great work being done there in Europe.
When we were there, when Pastor Thompson and I went there, of course with our families,
and we preached there, we were there for 10 days, on Wednesday the 23rd when we were there
of August, we had 90 people in attendance on a Wednesday night, which obviously, getting
there on a Wednesday night is difficult with traffic.
On Sunday morning the 27th there was 121 people there, on Sunday night there was 120 people,
so Pastor Thompson preached one person out that morning, and on Wednesday the 30th there
was 85 people there, we did a soul winning marathon in London, I don't know what the
number of soul winners, but I know it was over 100 soul winners in London, 54 salvations
in London, and praise the Lord for that, so I want you to understand that there is a remnant
in the UK regarding missions, the UK is a spiritually dark place, but there is a faithful
remnant.
Now you're there in Acts chapter 2, and I'd like you to look down at verse number 1, in
Acts chapter 2 and verse 1 we have a famous story of the day of Pentecost, of course Acts
chapter 2 and verse 1, the Bible says this, and when the day of Pentecost was fully come,
they were all with one accord in one place, and we're not going to read the whole passage,
look down at verse 5, and there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, I want you
to notice this little phrase, out of every nation under heaven, and of course the day
of Pentecost was a feast from the Old Testament that was celebrated by the nation of Israel
in the New Testament, the Jews are celebrating it, and the Bible tells us that there were
Jews that came to Jerusalem out of every nation under heaven, so we have these Jews that took
this pilgrimage back to Jerusalem on this day, and God even gives us a list of the countries
they came from, look at verse 9, Acts chapter 2 verse 9, Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites,
and the dwellers of Mesopotamia, and Judea, and Cappadocia, and Pontius, and Asia, Phrygia,
and Pamphylia, and Egypt, and in parts of Libya, about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome,
Jews, and Proselytes, Crete, and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful
works of God, and of course I'm not preaching about the tongues issue this morning, but
the day of Pentecost is not what the charismatic Pentecostals try to make it sound, where there's
gibberish and barking like a dog, and all those things, the day of Pentecost was a day
when people from all over the world came to Jerusalem, and God decided to have a big soul
winning push, he decided to have a big soul winning marathon, and he had 120 soul winners
there, and he miraculously gave them the ability to be able to preach in languages that they
had never learned, because of the fact that all these people had came to Jerusalem from
all these other countries, and he gave them the ability to preach in their language, and
of course they had 3,000 saved, not just saved, saved and baptized, and this was really kind
of the big launch of the local New Testament movement, I'm not saying it was the day that
the church began, but it was kind of their big day, their big launch, where the New Testament
church began by having this big number of salvations, and I want you to notice here
that though Jesus had told them to go, and by the way, if you know the book of Acts,
they didn't go, and he had to force them to go by bringing persecution, when they launched,
he took opportunity of the fact that there was a day when they didn't have to go because
they came, they came to them, so the first report from the UK that I want to give you
is regarding the remnant in the UK, regarding missions, but the second report that I'd like
to give you this morning is about the receptiveness in the UK for missions, the receptiveness
in the UK for missions, and I will say this, that the UK is receptive because people from
receptive areas of the world have migrated there. Do you understand what I'm saying?
When it comes to missions, you and I have to understand that there is the aspect of
missions which is being focused on this week, which is the idea that we are to go, go ye
therefore into all the world and preach the gospel, we are to go and preach the gospel
to the entire world, but let us also remember that there is another aspect of missions,
one aspect is when we go to them, the other aspect is when they come to us, so let's not
forget because this is similar in the UK to the United States that the world has come
to us, the world has come to us here in the United States and here specifically in Arizona
and California, we have people from Mexico and we have people from really all over the
world that come to us and we should realize that as much as we want to go to them, let's
take advantage of the fact that the world is coming to us and you know, the interesting
thing about the UK is this, that the new IP, obviously we believe in common sense missions,
we believe in going to places where they're receptive, where they speak the language,
right? So we go to Africa, we go to the Philippines, we go to the Caribbean, we go to these places
that are receptive, but here's the thing about the UK is that people from those receptive
areas are migrating to the United Kingdom and when they get there, they're still receptive.
Now look, I'm not going to lie to you, the UK is not like the Philippines, all right?
It's not like the Bahamas, they're not jumping into the boat, okay? But, so when we were
soul winning there, honestly, I felt like it was as receptive as Sacramento, California,
which is not super receptive, but you can still get people saved. But you know, we were
there for a soul winning marathon in London and we were there all day at that soul winning
marathon, I had one person saved. Now of course, if I was in the Philippines, I would have
had like 20 people saved, but I had one person saved, but the one person that got saved was
a young lady, her name was Angel and she had just moved to London from the Caribbean.
She came to London from the Caribbean and we knocked on her door, we gave her the gospel
and she got saved. So the UK is receptive because of the fact that people from receptive
areas all over the world have migrated there and people from receptive areas from all over
the world have migrated here. Why do we go to Mexico? Because it's receptive. Well, when
the Mexicans come to us, get off of your Republican high horse and stop being so upset that they're
here and take advantage of the fact that they're here. Let's preach the gospel to them and
let's get them saved because sometimes we go to them and sometimes they come to us.
So the UK is receptive because people from receptive areas of the world have migrated
there. And sometimes, like I said, we go to them and sometimes they come to us. Go
to Acts 28. But let me say this as well, regarding the receptiveness in the UK. Well let me just
read the passage. Acts 28. When you have the apostle Paul in the book of Acts, you have
him primarily dealing with two groups of people. One group that is highly receptive and one
group that is not so receptive. The highly receptive people are the Gentiles and the
not so receptive people are the Jews. And when you read the book of Acts, you read things
like this. Now you go to Acts 28, but let me just read a few passages to you. When you
see the apostle Paul going to preach to the Gentiles, here's the kind of things you read.
And came almost the whole city together to hear him preach. Acts 13, 44. You read things
like this. And some of them believed and of the devout Greeks a great multitude and of
the chief women not a few. Acts 17, 4. You read things like this. Therefore many of them
believed also of honorable women which were Greeks and of men not a few. Acts 17, 12.
So you read these verses. Women not a few. A great multitude. Greeks and of men not a
few. Almost the whole city came together. When he's preaching to the Gentiles and to
the Greeks, they're very receptive, right? And look, where's he at? He's in places like
Philippi and it was receptive. In the first century, it was Philippi. In our century,
it's the Philippines. These are receptive areas where he was just getting lots of people
saved. But then there was another group that wasn't receptive. Acts 28, look at verse 23.
This is the apostle Paul when he's in prison. Acts 28, 23. The Bible says this, and when
they. Now the they there, I won't take the time to go through the context, but it's the
Jews in Rome because he just got to Rome. And when they had appointed him a day, there
came many to him. So they made an appointment with Paul into his lodging to whom he, Paul,
expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus both out
of the law of Moses and out of the prophets from morning till evening. Notice verse 24.
He's talking to the Jews. They're not a receptive group. They're not the ones that the Bible's
going to say that they got saved, not a few, or a great multitude, or the whole study came
out. But notice what the Bible does say in verse 24. And some believed. You know how
some Jews got saved? In fact, in the first century, the first century church was filled
with Jewish converts, which is why there's a book in the New Testament called the book
of Hebrews to help these Jewish converts learn how to correlate the Old Testament and the
New Testament, how to transition out of the Old Testament and the New Testament. Now they
weren't getting Jews saved like they were getting Greeks saved, but notice verse 24.
And some believed the things which were spoken, look at the last part of verse 24, and some
believed not. Okay, so the verses where it says that there came many to him, or excuse
me, where it says that the whole city came out and women got saved, not a few, men got
saved, not a few, a great multitude came out, you know, that's equivalent to us. That's
like the Philippines. That's the Bahamas. That's these receptive areas. But then Acts
28, 24, when it says, and some believe the things which were spoken of, and some believe
not, that's more like the United States and the United Kingdom. Because we go out soul
winning and we're not having somebody walk up to us and say, tell me about baptism. But
some believed and some believed not. And look, let's just face it, all right, white people
aren't receptive. White people aren't receptive anywhere. They're not receptive in the
United States. They're not receptive in Canada. They're not receptive in Australia. They're
not receptive in the UK. All right? Can I just say that? They're not receptive. You
want receptive, you gotta find brown people and black people. It's just the truth. And
look, I'm not a racist. Don't call me a racist. I'm not a racist. I have a white friend. His
name is Pastor Anderson. All right? And look, obviously receptivity has to do with social
economic structures. We get that. If brown people had money, they wouldn't be receptive
either. We get that. But let me just let you in on a little secret. White people aren't
receptive. But did you know this? Some white people get saved. And look, if you're here,
we've got white people here that are saved. God bless you. You are part of the white remnant.
Now, I wouldn't go around saying that, okay? Because that just sounds like something out
of the Ku Klux Klan, the white remnant. But what I'm saying is this. White people get
saved. And look, in the UK, okay, let me say it this way. British people get saved. Now,
are they getting saved like in the Philippines? No. Are they getting saved like in the Bahamas?
No. Are they getting saved like in poor places? No. But British people, white people in Sacramento,
California, in Arizona, in the UK, all over the world, they get saved. And look, while
we were there, we had a British lady get saved. And I was out soul winning with Hunor there
in the UK. And he knocked on the door. And this British lady came out very polite, very
proper. I'll tell you this one thing. The British are very kind and very polite people.
And even when they were not interested in hearing the gospel, no one slammed the door
in our face. No one ever said anything rude. They're very nice people. And when we were
there, this British lady comes out extremely proper, you know, and all those things. And
Hunor starts talking to her. And I'm thinking to myself, like, this lady's not going to
get saved. You know, I'm just kind of thinking that because we've already knocked on all
these doors and all these British people. Because at this point, we're not in London.
We're in a different area. And they're just, you know, very polite, very nice, but they're
not interested, not interested, not interested. And he starts giving the gospel to this lady.
And this lady, you can tell she gets really emotional when he asks the question, you know,
for sure if you died today, are you on your way to heaven? And he's asking her, you know,
would you like to know? She gets very emotional. And here's what she said to us. She said yes,
I would like to know how to go to heaven. And here's what she said. She said, when I
was a teenager, I got pregnant out of wedlock. And the church that I went to told me that
I would never go to heaven and that myself and my child would both go to hell because
I had a baby out of wedlock. And, you know, obviously Hunor says, well, that's not true.
God loves you and God loves your baby and you can be saved. And she wanted to hear it.
So look, here's what I'm telling you. Even in unreceptive areas, you'll find receptive
people. You'll find people that are ready to hear the gospel, that are ready to get
saved. So when it comes to the receptiveness in the UK, there's two ideas. One is that
it is receptive because of the fact that receptive people from all over the world have migrated
there. And it is also receptive because within a population like the United Kingdom, like
the United States, you're going to find people that are receptive. Because here's the thing,
the UK is not super receptive and it is spiritually a dark place, but it's not Islamic. You understand?
There's a history there of Christianity. There's a history there of a culture of Christianity
and that makes them more receptive. It's like what Pastor Anderson was preaching on
Wednesday night about the northern kingdom of Israel where it said in 2 Chronicles 30
and verse 5, for they had not done it of a long time. And look, England and the United
Kingdom at one time was a super spiritual place. And at one time it was a place that
was sending missionaries all over the world. And they have a culture of that. They have
a culture of spirituality and of Christianity. Go to Acts chapter 13. When we were in London,
we drove by the oldest church in London and it was built in 675 A.D. Think about that.
675 years after Christ, this church was built. So obviously these people have a history and
a tradition, a culture of Christianity. There's one more thing I want to bring up about the
receptivity of people in the UK and the receptiveness of people in the UK. And it's kind of interesting
because though the UK is a spiritually dark place, in some ways it's more religious than
the United States. And let me just kind of explain that to you. They have, they're in
the UK what they refer to as a high church culture. And people have a lot of experience
with, when I say high church or a high church would be a more traditional type of church.
And this is because of the Church of England. And I'm not going to go into a whole history
lesson but of course King Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife because she wasn't producing
him an heir and the Pope at that time would not allow him to get a divorce so he pretty
much said forget the Pope and forget Catholicism and he started his own church and it's called
the Church of England. And he pretty much, now it's not a good church, he pretty much
just copied and pasted the Catholic Church and he just made himself the Pope of the Church
of England but they have the Church of England there and we even have it here in the US and
the US is called the Episcopal Church because you're not going to get Americans to go to
a church called the Church of England. But the Church of England is this because it's
so old and has so much tradition there's this high church mentality there and many people,
the ones that go to church, they go to like a high church type church and look, obviously
I was there for 10 days. I'm not an expert on everything there but the sense that I got
was this. It didn't seem to me based off all the soul winning I did and the people I talked
to that there's a lot of like fun centered churches like we have here. In the US, we
have, most people that go to church, they go to a fun centered church. They go to a
church that feels like a rock concert, looks like a casino, there's lasers and lights.
It seems like in the UK most people that I talked to that did go to church and even the
ones that didn't go to church would say when I was a kid I went to church and they went
to this high type church. It seems like, I'm not saying that there aren't fun centered
churches there. It just didn't seem like it was the big thing and because of the fact
that many people went and kind of grew up in that traditional, you know, they sang hymns,
in my opinion it seems like it's an easier transition from that into a real independent
fundamental Baptist church. You see what I'm saying? Because in the US we kind of struggle
with this, right? We get somebody saved that's used to going to like a fun centered church
and then they come to a church like ours and it's this big like culture shock because they're
like, why are the lights on? You know, it's like they're not used to that and we're singing
the hymns and we're preaching, right? So they're used to, you know, karaoke bar type church,
right? They're like, where's the karaoke with the bouncing ball and, you know, but
in the UK they're, to them, going to church and sitting down and the lights are on and
you're singing a hymn, that's normal. And look, we've been talking about it this whole
conference. Obviously, you know, my wife, she got saved when she was 17 years old but
transitioning her into an independent Baptist church was not difficult because of the fact
that when she was a little girl she went to church, to a Catholic church with her grandmother
and so she has a lot of memories of singing hymns. Obviously, they sing different hymns
than the hymns we sing but she had a lot of those memories so when she came to our Baptist
church and we sang hymns and we had a lot of the same similar atmosphere, it was an
easier transition for her to be able to do that. And look, isn't it true that it's way
easier to get a Catholic saved than just someone, than a Muslim, you know, or an atheist?
So these people, a lot of them, they're religious and they have it as a part of their culture
which, in my opinion, makes them a little more receptive and not only that but this
religion is intertwined into their society. And let me illustrate this kind of using the
school system now. And it's a little confusing so I wrote it down because I want to explain
this to you properly but, you know, in the United States we have what we call the public
school system and then private schools. And the public school system is a government school,
our taxes pay for it, it's open to anyone to go. But then people who don't want to send
their kids to the public school, they pay additional tuition above their taxes that
are already being paid and they pay to send their kids to a private school. And then,
of course, in the new IP, most of us, we don't send our kids to a public school or a private
school, we homeschool our children. And by the way, hey you kids, you ought to be thankful
to your parents if you're being homeschooled because they're already paying for your education
through taxes and then because they love you, because they love you, instead of just sending
you to the school that they've already paid for, they pay above that to educate you properly.
Because the public school system is a joke. I mean, it's wicked as hell, it's all about
influences, but even on an educational level, it's a joke. People are graduating from high
school, they can't read the diploma that they're receiving. So we have a public school system,
a private school system, homeschooling. In the UK, what they call public school is what
we would call private school. And what we call a public school, they call a state school.
So a state school is their public school, and a public school is what we call a private
school. Now here's what's interesting about the state school. The state school, if you're
sending your kids to what we call a public school, but it's what they call a state school,
you have three different options. You can send them to a secular state school, which
would be equivalent to what we consider a public school, just a school that is secular,
they don't talk about God, don't talk about religion, and they're probably against God
and against religion. But then they also have religious state schools, or what we would
call a public school. They have state schools that are Church of England, and they have
state schools that are Catholic. And again, neither one of these religions is good. They're
not preaching the gospel, they're not getting anybody saved. But at least some of the kids
in their state schools are going to a school that is a Church of England school, or a Catholic
school, where they're at least being taught about Jesus, they're being taught about God,
they're being taught about the Bible. I'm not saying that gets them saved, I'm not saying
that does anything, but there is at least this foundation of Christianity. So I just
want you to understand, when we talk about the UK, it's not Iraq. It's not Pakistan.
There is a tradition of Christianity, there is a foundation of Christianity, and when
you're out there, obviously you're going to meet a lot of people that are not going to
church, because more people go to mosques every week in England than go to church.
Brother Segura was saying that I didn't go to a Muslim country, but I did. It was called
England, because they're being taken over by the Muslims. The Muslims are taking over
the UK. So you find a lot of people that are not going to church, but they probably went
to church when they were a kid, or they might have gone to a state school that was a religious
school, or if they do go to church, they probably go to a high church, so it's just different.
It's different than the United States, and of course, every area has their own specific
things, but there is, of course, people there that are receptive because they come from
receptive countries, and there are people that are receptive because you can even get
a British person saved. There are English people that get saved. And look, when I was
there at Strong Tower, I met a lady in the church who got saved from the community from
door-to-door soul winning. They knocked on her door, got her saved, started coming to
church. She didn't know who I was, she didn't know who Pastor Anderson was, she's just
a local convert from the church, so praise the Lord for that. Look at Acts 13. So first
we talked about the remnant in the UK regarding missions, then we talked about the receptiveness
of the UK regarding missions, and lastly this morning I was talking about the role of the
UK for missions, the role of the UK for missions, and this is as I see it. And I want to begin
by giving you this illustration or this example from the book of Acts, because in the book
of Acts you have the apostle Paul, and the apostle Paul is the greatest missionary who
ever lived, greatest church planner who ever lived, greatest evangelist who ever lived.
And the apostle Paul was sent out to do his missions work, not from the church in Jerusalem,
but from the church in Antioch. Acts 13, look at verse 1. Now there were in the church that
was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers. Why don't you notice that? There were in the
church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers. I'm not going to take the time
to tell this, but look down at verse number 2.
So why don't you notice that Saul and Barnabas were ordained and commissioned and sent off
from the church in Antioch. This is the beginning of Paul's first missionary journey. It begins
here in Antioch. Where does Paul's first missionary journey end? Go to Acts 14, look at verse
26. Acts 14, 26. Acts 13, 1 is the beginning of Paul's first missionary journey. Acts 14,
26 is the end of the missionary journey. Notice what it says, and then sailed to Antioch from
whence he had been recommended. Remember that he was recommended, he was commissioned, he
was sent out. Look at verse 28, and there, referring to Antioch, they abode long time
with the disciples. That's the end of the first missionary journey. Let's look at the
beginning of the second missionary journey, Acts 15. Now in Acts 15, between the first
and second missionary journeys, you have this whole Jerusalem council, which had nothing
to do with missions. We're not going to talk about that. Look at verse 36.
And some days after, Paul said unto Barnabas, let us go again and visit our brethren in
every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do. That's the
beginning of the second missionary journey. Where are they in Antioch? Where does the
second missionary journey end? Look at Acts 18, verse 22. Acts 18, verse 22. And when
they had landed at Caesarea and gone up and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch.
So why don't you notice, the first missionary journey begins in Antioch, ends in Antioch.
The second missionary journey begins in Antioch, ends in Antioch. Why is that? Because Antioch
is the church that is supporting the Apostle Paul, and it's his launching pad. And he launches
from there, and he goes back there, he gives him a report, tells him how things are going,
and when he goes again, he leaves from there. Notice where the third missionary journey
begins. It ended in verse 22, it begins in verse 23, Acts 18, 23. And after he had spent
some time there, sometime where? In Antioch. He departed and went over all the country
of Galatia and Phrygia in order of strengthening the disciples. And of course, we don't see
the Apostle Paul end the third missionary journey in Antioch because we know that he
never came back. His missionary journey ends in Rome in prison. But I want you to notice
that Antioch was the launching pad. And I believe that the UK, and specifically the
church that's already there, Strong Tower Baptist Church, but any church that gets started
in the UK, I believe that it can serve as a launching pad for the new IFB to do missions
all over Europe. And I believe that the UK could be a launching pad. And look, I'm not
against any other churches. Obviously, there's a great church in Germany, praise the Lord
for it. Verdi Baptist Church is starting a church in Poland. I'm for it. I'm for all
of it. But here's why I think the UK is unique and could be uniquely used of a launching
pad. First of all, obviously, the United Kingdom, England, it's a nation in Europe. But they
also speak English. And we speak English. And they don't speak our language, we actually
speak their language. And they speak it better than we do. So here's the thing. We were able
to take a group of people from Vancouver, Washington, from Sacramento, California, we
spent 10 days in the UK and we did soul winning. Why? Because they spoke the same language
we spoke. Obviously, if we would have spent 10 days in Germany or in Poland or somewhere
else, Switzerland, you know, I don't speak those languages. Now, I could have gotten
soul winning there, but I wouldn't need an interpreter. It would have just added an additional
hurdle. Here's what I'm saying, is the new IFB obviously has mainly been headquartered
in the United States of America. Which means that most new IFB potential missionaries speak
English. Now, if you speak another language, praise God for it. Go to those countries,
go to those places. But if you're looking for a place, if you're saying I speak English
and I want to go do missions in Europe, then the UK is the place to go. Because they're
in Europe, they speak the same language you speak, you can go there, it can be a launching
pad from there to reach the rest of the world. And for us as pastors, obviously, I'm not
opposed to preaching in other places. Obviously, it's biblical to preach with an interpreter.
There's nothing wrong with that. But I just think that this could really be, the United
Kingdom could be a place that really kind of transitions or brings together the United
States and Europe because of the fact that it's a European country and they speak English
there. We primarily speak English. So it could be a launching pad to take over the rest of
Europe. And of course, there were people there at the event from all over Europe. But
those people speak English, which is why they got saved watching Pastor Anderson or watching
the new IFB on the internet. So we talked about the remnant. Go to Acts 16, Acts 16
if you would. We talked about the remnant in the UK from missions, we talked about the
receptiveness in the UK for missions, and we talked about the role of the UK regarding
missions. And of course, the remnant, it is a spiritually dark place, but there is
a faithful remnant there. And the receptiveness, there are receptive people from receptive
countries that have migrated there, and you can even get white people saved. All right?
So praise the Lord for that. And then there's the role of the UK. And the role is this,
that it could be like Antioch and it could serve as a launching pad for those of us that
are Americans that speak English to go to Europe and be involved in missions in Europe
because it's a European country that speaks English. I don't think the British like me
to call the UK a European country, but you know, it is what it is. Acts 16, look at verse
9. In Acts 16 and verse 9, you have the famous Macedonian call, which I want to use as an
illustration of a European call. Obviously, Macedonia was resulted in the gospel, the
Macedonian call resulted in the gospel coming into Europe, Macedonia would be more of a
Greek area. Look at verse 9, Acts 16 verse 9. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night.
There stood a man of Macedonia, this would be a Roman providence lying north of Greece,
and prayed him saying, come over into Macedonia and help us. And after he had seen the vision
immediately, we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called
us forward to preach the gospel unto them. And look, let me tell you something. Here
we have Paul, who gets his Macedonian call, this vision of this man from Macedonia saying,
come over into Macedonia and help us. This is a Macedonian call. It brought the gospel
into Europe. It brought missions into Europe. And let me tell you, today there is still
a Macedonian call from Europe where there's people all over Europe saying, come help us.
They're saying, come over and come help us. They're saying, come over into Macedonia,
come over into the UK, come over into Poland and Switzerland and Hungary and Germany, come
over and help us. And they're talking to you. They're talking to American Christians.
At this time in human history, we are the ones, the new IP here on this continent that
are preaching the gospel all over the world. And I'm here to tell you, there are Europeans
all over that continent saying, come over into Macedonia and help us. It's a dark place.
But please understand this. It was a dark place when Paul went there. They've all been
dark places. But the gospel light can shine in even dark places. Go to Matthew chapter
4. If you would, Matthew 4. While you turn there, let me read to you from 2 Kings chapter
4 and verse 4. 2 Corinthians 4 says this, In whom the God of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them. The glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the light of the glorious gospel of Christ can shine in the darkest places
of this world. But we need to get a vision. And look, maybe it's a vision for missions.
Maybe it's the UK. Maybe it's the Caribbean. Maybe, like Pastor Anderson said, maybe it's
across the ocean, but it's also across your street. We need to remember and we need to
understand that there are people, look, there are people all over this world, in Africa,
in Europe, in South America, in North America, people all over this world, in your neighborhood
and in my neighborhood, there are people that would get saved if we would come. They would
get saved and they maybe don't know how to articulate it. They don't know how to say
it. But in their heart, they are saying, if someone would come, I would get saved. They're
saying, help us. Help us. Why would you come to a conference like this? I hope it's to
be motivated for soul winning. I hope that you'll be motivated to get on a plane and
to go somewhere and answer that call as they say, help us. But I hope you'll also get motivated
to get in a van and go down the road. When the world has came to us, they think they're
coming here for jobs. They think they're coming here for prosperity. They think they're coming
here for benefits. They think they're coming here to earn some money to send back home.
What they don't realize is that God brought them here that we might reach them with the
Gospel. My dream, the whole time I was in the UK, this verse kept coming to my mind
because it is spiritually a dark place. But I think Matthew 4 is a great theme verse that
could be a theme verse for the vision of Europe. Obviously, this is not about Europe. It's
about the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 4 says this, the people which sat in darkness saw
great light. And to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung
up. And I pray to God that it might be said of the United Kingdom, of Europe, of every
part in this world, that it might be said that we have decided to take missions to the
outermost part of the world. That we have came with the glorious Gospel, the light of
the glorious Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that it might be said in our lifetime
that the people which sat in darkness saw great light. And to them which sat in the
region and shadow of death, light is sprung up. So I ask you the question, will you answer
the call? There's a Macedonian call all over the world. There are people all over the world,
literally we get emails every week. I know we do and I know all my friends do. We get
emails every week, people saying will you come and help us? Will you come and help us?
You know what we need is some people to step up and say I'm going to be a soul winner.
We need some young man to say I'm not going to live for money. I'm not going to be afraid
of the persecution. I'm going to get my life to preach the Gospel, the glorious Gospel
of Christ and to reach the dark world. The Gospel, the light, the glorious Gospel of
Jesus Christ. Will you come? Will you help? They're calling. They called Paul and they're
calling us. Come over into Europe and help us. Let's bow our heads and have a word of
prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord we love you. We thank you for this great conference. I
can't think of one thing that's more important than what we're dealing with this week. The
subject of mission, soul winning, heaven and hell, people will spend eternity somewhere
and there are people that are calling. They're searching and they cannot find the truth.
There's a famine of the preaching of the word of God and we have the light. Help us to go.
Help us to answer the call as they call to us for help. Help us to say we will go. Here
are my Lord. Send me. We love you. In the matchless name of the Lord Jesus Christ we
pray. Amen.