Almost Ain't Good Enough

Larry C. Brincefield

larkayb@earthlink.net

February 2, 2003 Sunday Morning

Title: Almost Ain’t Good Enough

Text: Acts 26:28

Introduction

Have you heard the saying, "Almost ain’t good enough"?

I’m not sure where it originated...

but in high school, if someone said, "well, I ALMOST made it"

we would respond, "almost ain’t good enough" (pardon the grammar)

When you think about it...that saying isn’t always true...sometime almost IS good enough.

if one of my children came home from school with a spelling test with the score of 97%...

they might say, "I ALMOST got them all right".

and of course, we would be very happy with almost a perfect score.

In that case, amost IS good enough, in my book.

and I’m sure there are other cases where almost IS good enough.

But, then again...there are plenty of times that almost is not good enough

Space Shuttle Columbia almost completed their mission...

they were only about 16 minutes from landing...

they were just ending a 16 day science mission...

their families had been brought in so they could see their family member after they landed.

but then something when wrong...

Space Shuttle Columbia broke up and pieces of it began to rain down in Texas.

They had ALMOST completed their mission...

they were almost there!!

but almost is not good enough...

and today, our nation, and even the world is mourning the tragic loss of 7 astronauts.

1 month ago, I told you that our vision this year was Christ 1st...

I told you that each month, we would launch a different theme...

Today, we are launching the shuttle of Revival

and as I began to think about what has happened...

I began to realize...

just because you LAUNCH the shuttle...

that doesn’t make the mission successful...

just because they made it up into orbit...

that doesn’t make the mission a success.

just because they were able to complete some scientific experiments...

that doesn’t make the mission successful...

the shuttle MUST LAND

it must successfully complete its journey.

And I began to think about our revival....

just because we LAUNCH the shuttle of revival...

doesn’t mean that we will actually have revival...

we must successfully complete our mission.

Read Text: Acts 26:28

Body

1. The Story

King Agrippa said, "You almost persuade me to become a Christian" Acts 26:28 (NKJV)

King Agrippa was the King of the Jews from about 53 AD - 93 AD.

Paul was being held prisoner because of his faith in Jesus Christ.

Festus wasn’t sure what to do with Paul, so he asked King Agrippa to help out.

Festus and Agrippa had the opportunity to hear Paul share his testimony.

When Paul got to the part where Jesus Christ was crucified and rose from the dead,

Festus jumped up and said, "You are out of your mind, Paul!" he shouted. "Your great learning is driving you insane." Acts 26:24 (NIV)

King Agrippa, on the other hand, said, "You almost persuade me to become a Christian." Acts 26:28 (NKJV)

Almost......but not quite.

In this case, I’m sorry to say, almost is just not good enough

2. Launching a Shuttle is dangerous...

there are literally thousands upon thousands of things that can go wrong....

The astronauts are aware of the danger...and are willing to proceed anyway.

Mission control is aware of the danger...and they do whatever they can to alleviate that danger.

But launching a shuttle is still dangerous business....

because you never know when something tragic might happen...

and people lose their lives.

you know, launching a revival is dangerous too.

you never know...

there’s a chance that the revival will fail...

we do everything we can to reduce that possibility,

but it can still happen.

We put all the pieces together so that we can launch a revival....

we call our evangelist...

we call our special musicians...

we unlock the doors...

we turn on the lights and heat/air...

But unlike the shuttle,

there aren’t thousands of things that can go wrong...

there are only 3

If people refuse to pray...the revival will fail...

If people refuse to come...the revival will fail...

and If people refuse to respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit...the revival will fail.

Almost isn’t good enough in a shuttle mission

sure the science experiments are nice...

and the astronauts performed some important things...

but the mission ended in failure with the death of 7 astronauts.

and almost isn’t good enough in revival.

sure...the music is nice...

and the special speaker is great

but if all we do is just sit back....

and enjoy some good preaching and good music...

if all we do is just allow it to stir our heart...

without letting it change our life...

if all we do is sit back while the altar call goes unheeded...

then the revival is a failure.