Almost is Not Home

This powerful message confronts us with one of the most dangerous words in Scripture: 'almost.' Drawing from Acts 26:26-29, we encounter King Agrippa's tragic response to Paul's testimony—'Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.' The sermon uses vivid imagery of a firefighter rescuing a child trapped just steps from safety to illustrate how proximity to salvation means nothing without that final step of surrender. We're challenged to recognize that being close to God, knowing Scripture, feeling conviction, and even believing the truth isn't enough. The message emphasizes that hell is built on 'almost'—almost repented, almost baptized, almost surrendered. We learn that salvation according to Acts 2:38 requires complete obedience: repentance, water baptism in Jesus' name, and receiving the Holy Ghost. The most haunting illustration involves a boy during a flood who reaches toward rescue but drowns because he won't release his backpack of possessions. This mirrors how many of us reach toward God with one hand while clinging to the world with the other. The urgency is clear: neutrality is actually rejection, delay is disobedience, and we're not guaranteed another moment. Today—right now—is the accepted time for salvation, not next week or when we think we're ready.