In this lesson here, almost is close. And so I start off with Hebrews 12, one, two, and three there, dealing with, never forget, on the other side of everything in life, headache, heartache, disease, whatever it is, for the saved person, there's victory. What a blessing. Never forget that. That'll allow you to endure. Okay? That allows me to endure. Now when we look at this, almost as close, look down at verse 28. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. Here in Acts 26, 13 to 29. And so now here we go. Let's start up in verse 13, work our way down to verse 28 and 29, okay? It says, verse 13, at midday, O king, now just think about this, Paul is on his way to Rome, isn't he? He's giving a testimony and talking about what God's done in his life, doing in his life, but he's a prisoner. At midday, O King, I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Verse 15, and I said, who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. Let me talk about a couple of things right here. You know, when you have an encounter, isn't it amazing how reality changes us? Reality, look what he says here. He said, I heard a voice speaking unto me, saying in the Hebrew tongue. How do you like that? God speaks Hebrew. And English and Spanish and Isn't that good? God is bilingual in me. You see, ladies and gentlemen, there's times in our lives when you and I, we need the Lord to speak to us. There's times in our lives When we need the Lord to speak in a language we can understand. There's times in my own life I've sat down just like, Lord, you ought to be glad. I can't get ahold of the hem of your garment because I'd hang on. You'd have to pry me loose. I need an answer. The reality of it is this. is that I heard a voice, Paul said, speaking unto me. Some of the old preachers, they rejoiced in that statement and the reality that God is willing to speak to you as an individual. If you need to know something, if there's a time in your life when you need Not somebody else to talk to you. You need him to talk to you. As a pastor and a missionary, there was times, listen, if he's my boss, then I don't need the voice of somebody else. I need him to talk to me. You see, ladies and gentlemen, listen to me. When I start off looking at this, I heard a voice speaking unto me saying in Hebrew tongue, now, I want you to understand, the Lord is willing to talk to us when we need him to talk to us. There's times in your life and in my life, we don't need another human voice. We need his voice. And the voice said, Saul, so why persecutest thou me? In other words, Jesus Christ was taking Paul's persecution of the believers personal. And Paul said, and I said, who art thou Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, and they'll persecute us. I'm Jesus. Who are you? I'm Jesus. Wow. What a way to meet the Lord. I mean, there was some old thoughts on this one that was just wonderful. Who art thou, Lord? He said, I am Jesus, and thou persecutest. Now listen, reality can come to you and me in the strangest of ways, but regardless how that reality comes to us, it must come. And the reason reality is revealed to you and me is to move you and me, to cause us to think, to cause us to move. Reality, you know, I've told you the story before about that guy over in West Kentucky. Told me he wasn't going to quit smoking, dipping, chewing, spitting, all that stuff. He said, I've been doing this since I was 10 years old. And I saw him, and man, he wasn't dipping, spitting, smoking, nothing. And I said, man, I thought you said you'd never quit. I got cancer. Oh. Reality caused him to do something that he said he'd never do. You see that? Now listen to me. Paul had set out to destroy Christianity. But the reality that Christianity in Christ was true, that you're saved by faith through grace, that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Listen. Who art thou, Lord? I'm Jesus, whom thou persecutest. What you and I need is the reality of Christ, the reality of Christ's death on the cross, the reality of Christ's blood being sufficient, the reality of Christ's sacrifice being sufficient, the reality that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He is the Lamb of God that was slain before the foundation of the world. Listen, Paul was hit with this reality that, wow, it's him. Now look, look at what this reality does. Start in verse 16 now, Acts 26, 16. The Lord just takes charge, but rise and stand upon thy feet. for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose. To make thee a minister and a witness, both of these things which thou hast seen and those things in the which I will appear unto thee. Wow, I have appeared unto thee for this purpose. Have you ever prayed to God and asked God to show you your purpose? You see, I have appeared unto thee for this purpose. When the Lord shows us his purpose, That ought to motivate you and me like we've never been motivated before. Why am I doing this? God has purpose in this. Purpose in the preaching of the Word of God to you. Purpose in teaching you the Word of God. It pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those that believe. There's purpose in the call of God. There's purpose in being a child of God. There's purpose. Listen, when you have divine purpose, when you have divine destiny, you've heard me say it before, you have divine protection. Look at the very next verse. Delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee. What do you have? Man, you've got divine destiny or divine purpose. And what's it hooked up with? Divine protection. There is a reality to this that the children of God can take and hang on to. That you and I, boy, regardless of what God wants us to do, we can trust Him. Look at verse 18. Here is the purpose described, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. That's one of the verses we used this morning dealing with the confession of faith. What's the purpose of this? To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light. In the Sunday school, I was taught, the reason I quit is because I knew I had it right here again, okay? That's why I did that. But now watch this. The eyes have got to be opened before turning can happen. To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light. The eyes have got to be opened first. Said to open their eyes, to open their eyes, to turn them, to turn them. You see that? Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to know that one of the purposes of the preaching of the Word of God is so that the Holy Spirit can take the Word of God and to open your understanding, to open your eyes. And when He opens your eyes, you'll see. You'll see. You'll see things like you've never seen them before. That's why it says in Matthew 13, having eyes to see and ears to hear. And he says of the others, they have eyes, but they see not, and they have ears, but they hear not. You see, ladies and gentlemen, When your eyes are open, it brings about a willingness in you and me to turn from the darkness to the light. When your eyes are open and mine are open, there's a willingness to turn. Oh, mine to turn toward Him, to turn to Christ. There's a willingness that happens to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God. Do you realize that when the word of God is preached, it's got a power to it? It's got a power to it. Now this word, the power of Satan, right here, is ecousia. That means it's a delegated power, all right? But when you have the power of God, it's always in Deuteronomy. In other words, it's not a delegated power. He's got the power. He is the power. Now just think about this. So you and I, then, when we have this power, But guess what you have in you? You, you, guess what you have in you? You have not just a delegated power, you got a divine power in you. When the preacher gets up to preach the word of God, or when you go out and you pass out a track, you go to witness to somebody. And God empowers that. That's just not a delegated power. That's the power of the Holy Spirit. That's the power of God, the Holy Spirit. That's a dunamis power. Just not a delegated power. Man, it's a power that has power over Satan. There is a power in that. To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God. Now listen, when they're turned to God, now all of a sudden, look at what they have. That they may receive forgiveness of sins. Listen, when you're freed from the power of Satan, the one thing Satan wants to do is to use his power to keep you away from forgiveness of sins. Regardless how he's gonna do it, whether through deception or whatever it is, he wants you to stay on the wrong side of God. Like I said, you know, I read that article about these Catholics and that they were saved. And this one fellow said that his mother, she was dying and all of a sudden she just sat up in the bed. And she said, I see the flames of hell. And a few other things, and she screamed and fell back in the bed dead. It wasn't purgatory she was looking at, because there's no such thing. But the priest would have said, oh, that's just purgatory. Well, that's a lie. There's no such thing as purgatory. And that wasn't purgatory she was looking at. I want you to know forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." Wow. You see, when we have the right type of encounter with Christ, it's going to, not sometime, but every time, affect our will. I mentioned that in the Sunday school. Look at verse 19. Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. I was not disobedient. In other words, Paul, the persecutor, Now all of a sudden has become Paul the prophet, Paul the preacher. All of a sudden now, Paul is willing to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was not disobedient, he was willing. Now listen to him. The thing that everybody in this room needs is to have an experience with the Lord Jesus Christ to the point that it would make you absolutely willing to do what's right in the eyes of God. willing to go, willing to stay, willing to live, willing to die for Christ, whatever it is. He says, whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. but showed first unto them of Damascus and of Jerusalem and throughout all the coast of Judea. And then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and do works met for repentance." Man, all of a sudden, Paul was willing to be a preacher of the very thing he persecuted. You see, ladies and gentlemen, what you need, what I need, what we need in our lives is simply this reality of Christ. You and I need to have an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. Because in that encounter, we'll become willing to do and to keep on doing. I'm gonna spend some time here now. Go down to verse 21. For these causes, the Jews caught me in the temple and went about to kill me. Well, Paul went about to kill the Christians as a Jew. Now the Jews are gonna go about trying to kill Paul. You see, Paul went from the hunter to the hunted. I got a question for you. Are you willing to become the hunted? Are you willing to become the hated? That's what the Bible says, isn't it? Be hated of all nations for my name's sake. Be hated of all men for my name's sake. Are you willing to do that? Go to verse 22. Here, I'm gonna spend some time on this. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day. having therefore obtained help of God. My goodness, we could go back and look at Paul. I mean, he was shipwrecked, beaten, imprisoned, hunted, let down over a wall in a basket. I mean, we read about his life and you think, my goodness. What kind of life is that? I got a question for you. Would you still be a Christian if that was part of your life? Beaten, shipwrecked, hunted, hungry, cold, everything you can think of. But that was Paul's Christian life, wasn't it? Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue to this day. I just want you to know something. I read that last night and I just paused for a minute and said, amen. You see, ladies and gentlemen, not only can you have purpose in your life, not only can you have protection in your life, but you can have the help of God that will allow you to continue until you fulfill your purpose. Witnessing both to the small and great, saying none of the things that those which the prophets and Moses did say should come. You see, ladies and gentlemen, He says, having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day. He's telling this to Agrippa. But I want you to know something. You and I need to go to the word of God and realize that what God wants us to do As we obtain help from God, we can continue doing what God wants us to do. And we must understand, it's God that helps us. It's God that helps us to continue on. Well, verse 23. that Christ should suffer and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead and should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. The resurrection. Jesus Christ should suffer. He did. And he was the first to be raised from the dead. And the Bible says this, if you're here this morning and you're truly born again, The Spirit that's in you was the same Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. And the Word of God declares that the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead will be the same Spirit that raises you from the dead. That resurrection. No wonder Festus was gonna look at Paul. I mean, this thing about the suffering Savior was new to him. Man, to them, the Savior was gonna come back as a king and throw the Romans out. Not a suffering Savior. But there's something going to happen here. Paul's talking to them about spiritual things. Paul's talking to them about how God has worked in his life. Paul's talking to them and giving witness to them about how God has helped him all the way up to this point. Well, You see, some people, these truths have a, boy, just a devastating effect on them. Some people are terrified it's a thought of the resurrection. Reading the Bible, some are resurrected for heaven. Others are resurrected for hell. I was reading an article by an atheist. He said that he liked being an atheist because it allowed him to live like he wanted to live without the threat of judgment. That's the truth, isn't it? living without the threat of judgment. Well, he's blinded to some truth, isn't he? All right, let's go on down, verse 24. And as he speak for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, pull thou art beside thyself. Much learning doth make thee mad. You're mad, man, you're crazy. But I like what Paul said to him. But he said, I'm not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. But speak forth the words of truth. Listen, Festus said, Paul, you're crazy. Paul come back and said, no Festus, I'm telling you the truth. I want you to know something, ladies and gentlemen, regardless of how somebody views you, the truth still needs to be spoken by you. No, Festus, but I'm speaking forth the words of truth to you. Listen, ladies and gentlemen, what the people around us need is for somebody to speak the words of truth to them. I know it makes people mad. And sometimes people really make terrible mistakes. This guy's wife was talking to him and talking to him and talking to him, and finally she said, you haven't heard a word I said. He said, I have to. She said, all right, what did I say? And he said, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, that didn't turn out too good, did it? You see, we're not in the blah, blah, blah business though, are we? We're telling the truth. But speak forth the words of truth. Ladies and gentlemen, we must deal in truth, live in truth, read truth, practice truth, and leave this life telling the truth. Oh, in West Kentucky, there was a guy who was a member of our church. He went around servicing oil wells. and one day he got in his truck and he was going down a dirt road this way and another guy that worked on oil wells was driving a kind of a pump truck and some other stuff coming this way, vegetation growing up and right there where those two roads meet, those two trucks met. The truck he was in Exploded, burned up. I mean, when it was finished, that truck wasn't as big as this pulpit. And they went out there looking around where everything was. Lo and behold, found his wedding ring laying out there. Everything burned up, you know, and the ring just fell off his finger. But he would always leave. If he come over to our house and started to leave, or if he was talking to you and he started to leave, he'd always say, come see me. Come see me. At his funeral, it was at a church up in Reno, El Reno, and Big, big, big. This church was big. Every seat was taken. And I thought to myself, he was saved, and he was always saying, come see me. I started off that funeral by telling people, listen, how many of you ever heard him say, come see me? Mm, they all did. I said, I want you to know something. If you're sitting here and saved and born again, you can do that. But for those of you that's sitting here that's never been truly born again, you'll never see him again. That's the reality of it. The words of truth need to be spoken by you and me, whether it be in bluntness and honesty, or in a parable in honesty, or with something descriptive and an illustration in honesty. But regardless, the truth must be spoken. The truth must be spoken. Why? This is the truth. and you will be judged by it. Oh, Festus, this is the truth and you're gonna be judged by it. The truth is this. Are you truly born again? Have you accepted His will for your life? Do you still hang on to the world with one hand and try to grab a hold of heaven with the other? That don't work. There's got to be a time and a place when you and I crown Jesus Christ King of Kings and Lord of Lords. There's got to be a time when we lay down our feelings, our emotions, and face the truths of the Word of God. There's got to be a time when you and I have a coronation day and crowned Jesus Christ King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Verse 28. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. I've met a lot of people that when you start talking about their Christianity, are you saved? Hope so. Are you saved? Maybe so. Are you saved? Think so. Hope so, maybe so, think so. When the Bible says, it's a no-so. Romans 8, 16, His spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Just think about this. Think about it. These things are written that you may know, but the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost Himself confirms to those that He saved that they're saved. You don't have to go through life, hope so, maybe so, think so, want to, no. No. When Christ saves you, you know it. You have a confrontation with the Holy Ghost of God. and you wind up being converted, your will changes. Remember, the marks of a non-saved religious person is the religious person still hanging on to their will. The truly saved, man, we get that Christ syndrome. Lord, not my will, but Thine be done. We expect the Lord Jesus Christ and others to say, Lord, not my will, but thine be done. But then when it comes to us, we say, Lord, I'll do it until, well, I don't want to do it no more. We come up with some other thing. You see, ladies and gentlemen, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. That's exactly where a lot of religious people are. Now, I've been put into some really strange circumstances in my life. And there was this one lady and some of her relatives were members of the Church of Christ. And one of them died. And I was, I went over there, they wanted me to go over there. And so, this demon-possessed Church of Christ minister, they put me in the hearse with him. And we were standing there getting ready to get in the hearse, and this one lady come over and asked him, said, do you think, Mrs., I forget her name, do you think she was saved? He said, well, she was baptized. And the lady said, no, do you think she was saved? He said, well, I hope so. And she said, no, was he saved? Was she saved? Can you tell me? He said, nobody can know that. We got in that car and I looked at him, I said, you're a lying rat. I said, you're a lying scoundrel is what you are. I said, this woman you're about to bury died and went to hell. You just told that one right there that nobody can know that. When the Bible says his spirit bears witness with our spirit, we are the children of God. Needless to say, time we got out at the graveyard, he was wanting to get away from me and I was wanting to get away from him. You see, we've got to deal in truth. Almost is close, but close don't count. You can be a member of every church in the county. That's not salvation. You can be baptized so many times, you know the tadpoles in the creek been named, but that's not salvation. You can be sprinkled when you're a baby and drowned when you're older. That's not going to make you a child of God. Baptism has nothing to do with your salvation. The reality of it is this. Almost that persuades me to be a Christian. That's good. The devil works hard at getting people to think they're a Christian. Why do you think, did all, let me ask you a question. Now I want you to put your, I realize, turn off, turn off your phone for a moment, will you? Listen to me. When Christianity started, How many churches were they? One. One. Just one. And it wasn't a Catholic church. It was just one, wasn't it? Well, why do you, why? Humans crack me up, that's a stupid. that they never question who started this. Where did this come from? I challenged an old Methodist on that one time. Man, he choked, sputtered, got mad, went home. His wife called me later on, cussed me out for making her husband all stirred up. The reality of it is this. If the Lord started one church, which one was it? The reality of it is this, almost I'll persuade this man to be a Christian. That's exactly what the devil wants. A whole bunch of religious organizations that send people to hell. Boy, they live a happy life thinking everything's great and die and go to hell. I listened to this fella the other day again, a different guy, but, you know, he said, oh, oh, God's done everything he could do for you. He's gave his son for you. Oh, he's just done all this stuff for you. Now why don't you just accept him? I'll tell you something. That guy's nothing but a lying charlatan. God's not sitting on a cloud wringing his hands. When God wants to save somebody, he saves them. That's the truth of it. I don't know about you, but my God is a sovereign God that has all And the last thing he's going to do is make the death of his son subject to the will of man. The atoning death of Christ, the atoning blood of Christ has never been subject to the will of man. Christ atonement, the atonement has always been specific. Never a general just hanging out there waiting for somebody to accept it. No, no, no, no, no. You don't find that in the Bible nowhere. Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. Verse 29. And Paul said, I would to God that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether such as I am, except these bonds, were both almost and altogether such as I am. Paul says, I would to God that all of you were saved like me, committed like me. I want all of you to be saved. I would to God that not only you, King Agrippa, but also all that hear me this day were both almost and all together such as I am. Oh, how I wish the same thing. Do you want to say whoosh? How I desire the same thing. I'm like Paul in that sense. You see, ladies and gentlemen, almost is close, but it's still missing the mark. Almost. You can have all this religious cover, all of the ceremonies, all the activities, and just be almost. May God save your wretched soul. May the Holy Spirit of God just calmly Speak to your heart and mind. May you become a convinced believer. May you become a convinced believer. I've had people come to me and say, I need some assurance of my salvation. And I've always told them, listen, if the Holy Spirit of God can't convince you that he saved you, don't you dare go to some man. But the reality of it is this. Real salvation, I know we say, well, you need to pray and ask the Lord to come to your heart. No, you don't. Because if you say that's a must, then what about these poor people that can't talk? I reckon they're just lost, right? No, no, no, no. Nah, listen. When you're truly born again, the people around you will recognize it. When you're truly born again, you'll manifest it. When you're truly born again, you'll not be able to hide it. Because the Holy Spirit of God that dwells within you at that point will begin to manifest what has taken place in your life. And you will not be an almost Christian. You'll be altogether such as Paul was a Christian. Now that's the truth. That's why that saved person, just like Paul, he was on his way to get his head chopped off. But guess what? Paul said, I fought a good fight, kept the faith, I'm ready to be offered up. Why? The truly born again person picks up the life of Christ As we go through life, we find ourselves picking up the life of Christ more and more, more and more, more and more. You see, and it always goes back to this. We must never forget on the other side of our service for Christ is victory. On the other side of all of the stuff that Paul went through, the beatings, the shipwrecks, the hungering, the thirstings, the fastings, everything, everything he went through, on the other side of that was victory. Right up to when they cut his head off on the other side of that was victory. You see, ladies and gentlemen, the all most Christian. I've been around some people that wouldn't go to funerals. They say they're saved, but they don't want to go to funerals. Terrifies them. Why? Listen, I like going to Christian funerals. You know why? Because I know they're not there anymore. They're not at home. To be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord. You see, ladies and gentlemen, in closing, let me tell you this. Remember it, never forget it. Paul's given his testimony here, all the way down to the point that Agrippa said, almost now persuades me to be a Christian. I'm standing up here preaching to you this morning. You know why? Because I want you to be a Christian. I want the Holy Spirit of God to speak to your heart, save your soul. I want you, as Paul said, I want you to be altogether such as I am. I'm preaching the word of God. I don't want you to be an almost Christian. I want you to be a sold out, saved, born again, child of God. Because in that, you'll recognize what God does for you. Like Paul said, having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day. What a blessing to recognize God's hand in your life. Are you saved today? If you were to die right now, do you know for sure you're going to be with the Lord? Are you born again by the Spirit of God? The old priest said, what? Ye must be born again. Ye must be born again. It's not a religious rite. It's not a religious ceremony. It's not a church membership. It's a new birth. And the only thing that availeth is the new birth. Are you born again? Let's all stand, if you would, please, as we go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, as we come to you right now, we pray in the name of Jesus. that, dear God, that may the Holy Spirit of God speak to the hearts of the lost that are amongst us today. We pray, dear God, that the Holy Spirit would take this message all over the internet, whatever, and use it. And now, Father, may people not be almost persuaded, but may the Holy Spirit of God make that persuasion complete in their life. And now, Father, we ask in the name of Jesus. Oh, we thank you so much for the blood that washes all of our sins away. It's still the blood. Oh, I love that song. It's still the blood. And it surely is. And now glorify yourself in what's done. We ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Join me. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Amen. Brother Josh Garland, would you just miss us in prayer, please?