Almost

The book of Acts, chapter 26, verse 28 and 29.

Acts 26:28

And it is very familiar. I'm not going to be

speaking on something that you probably have

not heard of or preached or shared yourselves.

But I just want to come with a with a refreshed

thought on this. And hopefully it'll be a blessing

to somebody. Praise God. This is what we want

to do, encourage somebody here today. Acts 26

and 28 says, Then Agrippa said to Paul, You almost

persuade me to become a Christian. And Paul said,

I would to God that not only you, but also all

who hear me today might become both almost. and

altogether such as I am, except for these chains.

And it's a very simple title for today's message.

Like I said, you've probably seen this and heard

it many times. I'm going to do the same and title

it, Almost. Somebody say, Almost. All right,

so now we're going to ask you to go around and

greet somebody. Welcome them and tell them almost.

Praise God. Greet somebody in the name of the

Lord. Almost, Brother Tony. Almost, Brother.

Hallelujah. Almost. Amen, amen, amen. God bless

you, Brother. Amen. God is good. Hallelujah,

hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Thank

you, Jesus. Good to see all of you here today.

Keeping in prayer those that were unable to be

here. There was some sickness going around this

week, but thank God there's victory in the house.

Healing happened. Praise God. God bless you.

You may take your places. Thank you so much.

The term almost is not so frequently used in

the Bible, but its implications are significant

in understanding the nature of decision -making,

commitments, and the consequences of hesitation.

and spiritual matters. We know that our Christian

walk is a life of decisions. It is a life of

moving forward and attempting to live in God's

will and purpose. The term almost carries a sense

of a missed opportunity. an incomplete commitment,

and a constant reminder of the importance of

decisive action, decision -making, and the dangers

of complacency. This famous phrase of almost

comes from the scripture that we just finished

reading of this King Agrippa that Paul stood

before, and only in defense of himself and for

the gospel, the Apostle Paul had to explain where

he was coming from and his purpose. And at the

end of all of this, the king says that he had

no reason to incarcerate or pursue any kind of

trouble towards Paul. But because he had attempted

to appeal to Caesar, then he had to pursue or

continue with the sessions of legalities against

Paul. But it's obvious and it's a strange but

very... very surprising that somebody that is

about to judge someone is, I don't know if you've

ever been in a courtroom where the accusations

are strongly against someone and when the defense

begins to explain their reasons that even the...

The judge would say, hey, you almost convinced

me. You almost convinced me. And I believe that

the Apostle Paul had that gift of persuasion

and also of defense of the gospel. Have you ever

used the phrase, almost home? Have you ever used

that phrase, almost home? If you're driving...

Let me share, you know, if you're a driver or

whatever, but let me share some statistics about

almost home. 25 % of automobile accidents happen

within one mile of home. One mile. 25 % of all

the accidents happen within one mile of home.

And 75 % of accidents happen within... five miles

of home. That is a very high percentage of accidents

that happen when you're almost home. And I want

to bring this out because almost home is altogether

not home. You hear what I'm saying? Almost home.

I'm almost there, but you're not there. Praise

God. That's easy to comprehend, and it's easy

to digest in our minds and our hearts, but you're

not. It's like a runner that got second prize.

He almost crossed the line first, but he did

not. And there's a big difference in that because

only one gets the prize. I almost beat him in

the ring. Well, you're the one that fell. You

know, and you're the one that got knocked out.

And, you know, to almost, almost is an extreme.

It's like an eternity in almost. It's almost

like eternity is hinged in it because it just

didn't happen. And it's not happening. In the

sense of spirituality, almost making the rapture

of the church is altogether not making it. I

mean, I don't want to be the one that stays behind

to tell everybody, I almost made the rapture.

What good would that do for anybody that almost

made the rapture? It doesn't mean nothing at

that time because you're categorized with everybody

that did not. Praise God. Unfortunately, there's

a lot of people that think they're going to be

there or whatever. God help us. Nobody, and I

hope not, amen, would marry somebody that admits

at the wedding altar, I almost love you. Almost

love you. Or not almost, you know, I almost commit

to be faithful to you in the vows. Wait a minute.

Whoa, time out right here. What are you talking

about? Almost. Either you're all in or you're

all out. What are you going to do? You know,

and so it seems like the phrase almost could

have a lot of implications. And we don't like

almost. You almost got the promotion. But you

gave it. You almost got it. Why don't you just

run around the office here and leap for joy because

you almost got the promotion. I'm not going to

celebrate anything that has to do with almost.

Because almost is not something we celebrate.

I said that almost is not something that I'm

going to leap up for joy and say, my God, why

are you jumping? I almost. No, it doesn't mean

nothing. Almost is altogether not. You hear what

I'm saying? So in reality, almost, amen, there's

an eternity. Amen. After that, we can easily

process almost when it directly affects us in

the natural human sense. But what about our spirituality?

Jesus asked Peter three times, do you love me?

In John 21, he asked Peter, Peter, do you love

me? Peter became frustrated because the Lord

asked him three times. But Peter responded in

a way of what is called filial love, which is

brotherly kind of love. His response was a filial

love. But the Lord was waiting. For Peter to

respond with what he knows as agape love, which

is unconditional. You see, there's even levels

of love. And the Lord has separated. He says

agape love is what he wants from a wife because

it's unconditional. It's an unconditional love

that we have. We don't have brotherly love with

Christ. We have agape love with Christ because

it's unconditional. You're all in. You're all

in. God knows the difference between almost and

filial love and altogether agape love. Praise

God. And he's the only one. I don't know what

kind of love you have. You can certainly convince

me by the things that you do, maybe your conduct

and the things you know. But God knows the difference

between the two and others. But God wants us

to be all in. He wants it to be sold out to him

in love. For humanity almost can mean the difference

between heaven and hell. Praise God. I'm sorry,

but there's no in -between. You know, we don't

believe in purgatory. We don't believe in the

middle section there, you know, in the cheaper

seats in heaven. There's not going to be no cheap

seats in heaven. It's all or nothing. I mean,

there's not going to be some streets that are

going to be pure gold and some that are going

to be make -believe gold or fool's gold. It's

all or nothing, man. God's in it. We're in it.

Amen. And that's the thing that we're not. There's

nothing in between. Almost is not going to get

it. Praise God. Amen. So I know that Pastor Jacob

has recently and currently preaching on a series.

a title called, and I've been really listening

in, and when I'm not here, I still listen in

afterwards. I do the Monday morning quarterback

thing, you know, and I watch it, you know, on

YouTube and whatnot, but the biblical examples

associated with almost encourages believers to

be fully committed to their faith. And when you're

called, you cannot tell God, I almost responded.

I almost did it, Lord. But I called you to be

fishers of men. I almost did it, Lord. I decided

to chase jackrabbits instead. Do some other thing.

No, the Lord called you to be a fisher of men.

Don't tell him almost. Amen. I don't know what

Peter would have done, amen, if the Lord asked

him for his boat to preach from. And Peter says,

man, I almost loaned it to you. I was almost

there to lend you my boat. No, Peter, give me

your boat. I need your boat. And God is not interested

in almost. That is an extreme distance from him,

praise God. But the biblical examples associated

with almost encourage believers to fully commit

to their faith, to be prepared, amen, and to

act decisively in their spiritual journey. Under

the leadership of Joshua, the Israel nation crossed

over the Jordan River. To possess their inheritance.

You all know the story. The promised land. After

some initial conquest of the major fortified

cities, the nation became comfortable with what

they had gained and possessed. And this is typical

not only in the natural of Israel, but it's typical

even in our lives today. It seems like, you know,

an alcoholic, if he's delivered from alcohol,

he's happy, you know. But that doesn't mean that

he's fully converted, amen, because you can be,

well, not delivered, but you can stop drinking

by just going to AA meetings, you know. And there

you have to admit you're an alcoholic every time.

You know, I'm an alcoholic. Well, praise God,

that's not deliverance. Praise God, that's almost.

You hear what I'm saying? I've been to one of

those meetings. It says all those people confessing

that they're alcoholics and I'm an alcoholic

and I this and then they give their testimony

and I haven't drank in three weeks. It says really

you're not delivered. You're almost delivered

but that doesn't even count. Praise God. And

he's still an alcoholic and they admit they're

alcoholics but when God doesn't work in our lives.

I said, when God does something in our lives,

he doesn't almost heal you. He never almost delivers

you. He delivers you. He sets you free. And if

the son sets you free, you're free indeed. It

doesn't say almost free. No, God delivers. You

see, God knows the difference between almost

and altogether. Amen. And so the Apostle Paul

was trying to communicate this. But listen, the

Israelites, they embraced their new life. They

were no longer slaves to the Egyptians. Well,

they're not filling the tail of the brick, which

was just building up Egypt. But silently and

slowly. And because of their slavery mentality,

they became slaves to the giants that were within

them themselves. You see, way back in 1994, there

was a book written by George Barna. You might

remember this. Maybe you weren't even born then.

I don't know. But he wrote a book, and I bought

it right away. And the book was called The Frog

in the Kettle. That illustrated a fable about

a frog that is placed into a room temperature

water that is slowly heated. And it's slowly

heating till it gets to a boil. The frog failed

to notice the danger until it was too late to

escape. If you drop a frog into boiling water,

it instantly will jump out and save itself. If

you put it in room temperature water and heat

it gradually, the frog stays comfortable and

begins to adapt to the rising temperatures and

boils to death. Wow, because they don't know

the difference. It's gradual. The metaphor of

this tale is a warning about gradual change.

It illustrates how humans often ignore slow -moving

threats like toxic jobs, a bad relationship,

or a disregard of spiritual awareness until the

situation turns catastrophic and, in most cases,

spiritual deaths. I had a friend many, many years

ago that was blessed to get a few restaurants.

You know, he began to own some restaurants and

I noticed that He was very committed to the church.

Wow, he was just like always in church. And he

was a leader even for the youth leader for some

time. And he was doing quite well. Got a family.

And he got these restaurants. And he lived up

on the hill. And he would invite us up there

to his house. Oh, my God. He had a beautiful

home on the hillside. Really, really nice. And

then I noticed something that he started missing

a Sunday. Only because he had to work that Sunday.

You know what I'm saying? And then I noticed

that he was gone another Sunday. You know, and

before you know it, it got worse and worse. Next

thing you know, he had a problem in his marriage,

and his wife ended up divorcing him. Then he

had a problem with his kids, and his kids went

all into drugs, full -blown addicts. He lost

everything. Then he lost his restaurants. Then

he lost his health. He got cancer. Then he died

young. Hello? And I look back, and at one time

I admired him. I said, gee, I wish I could do

that. Because he was very well off. He had the

best of everything. And I looked up to him that

way. But when I seen the tip of the plateau and

how it began to come down the other side, slipping

down the other end, I said, I don't want nothing

to do with that. And before I knew it, I was

at his funeral. And unfortunately, what happens

in these kind of situations is that it slowly

happens to us. It slowly begins to move in our

lives. We're like that frog in the kettle. We

compromise and we begin to become complacent

about who we are in God. There's an old war tactic

that has been in practice for centuries. It's

called insurgence. It is an enemy -tacting...

of blending in. They wear civilian clothes instead

of uniforms. They avoid large -scale battles,

opting out instead to blend in with the intention

of gradually expanding their territorial control.

They hide within and pretend to be non -threatening,

but If not detected, they will overcome and control

just as the frog in the kettle. Eventually, the

situation turned into spiritual death. Now, I'm

saying all of that because sometimes we don't

know that we have... compromise our altogether

commitment to God and begin to mess around and

flirt with almost. Oh, you didn't hear me yet.

Begin to flirt with almost. Well, I got away

with it this time. And so the temptation is to

repeat. And what happens then is that your altogether

commitment becomes into, it converts into an

almost committed. Hello. You don't know it. God

knows it. Praise God. You should know it as you

should be awakened to it today. Now let me just

give you, continue with the example of the Israelites.

As for Israel. When they crossed over into the

promises of God in the promised land. They did

take some cities. They conquered cities. They

conquered strong wall fortified cities. And they

really did a number. You know the miraculous

things that they did. You know with the cities

that surrounded them. They were fortified like

Jericho and others. And they did great things.

But then Israel decided to set up. Joshua decided

to set up the tabernacle. They selected Shiloh.

Which is very significant and prophetic. but

I just want to use this as an example of how

they set up the tabernacle, and there was about

seven tribes that decided to hang out there in

Shiloh. It was a secure, safe, and peaceful,

and even religiously comfortable environment.

Couldn't get any better than this, they were

saying. For someone coming out of the desert

and their forefathers out of bondage in Egypt,

man, this was heaven on earth. And they were

glad to have been delivered. Just like a lot

of folks today in Christianity. They're glad

to be delivered. But they made a huge error.

They did not fully possess. Now, you can win

and possess, but the key is occupy. They did

not occupy their promised land. Now, there's

a lot of folks that feel delivered, and they

feel like they possess some things, but they're

not occupied. They leave that out, praise God,

and it's almost like a child, you know, I don't

know, have you ever had a child that, let me

tell you what frustrates God. What frustrates

God is when we act like little kids, right? And

what do little kids do? You give them a gift,

an expensive gift, they open the box, and what

do they play with? The box. don't even play with

the toy. Come on, play with the toy. Look at

zoom, zoom. They throw it aside. They want the

box. The Lord gave a gift to Israel and instead

of taking the gift that he gave them, they were

playing with the box at Shiloh. Oh, you didn't

hear me yet. They're playing with the boxes.

I only delivered the gift in the box and you're

paying more attention to the box than what I

gave you. Praise God. And so this was what happened

to the Israelites. While they were enjoying life

in the comforts of freedom, they assumed all

would be well with the remainder of the promised

land. But the Canaanites, they still held claim

to certain territories because the Israelites

did not fully possess and occupy the land. Not

until an 85 -year -old man stood up by the name

of Caleb, who was one of the original spies that

was sent by Moses. to survey the promised land

about 45 years before, he was not going to stay

in Shiloh another day because he says, I have

an inheritance. I have an inheritance. And he

spoke to Joshua and said, give me this mountain.

He was not going to settle for a Shiloh. He was

not going to settle for a religious activity.

He was not going to settle for the fact that

they just came out of the desert and everybody's,

you know, hooting and hollering and having praise

breaks on Shiloh. Not about a praise break at

Shiloh. Are you delivered or not? Not only are

you delivered, but there's promises that the

Lord has given you and me today. But we should

not just take the promises. We need to occupy

the promises. Praise the Lord. How would you

feel if the Lord saved and delivered you and

just said, I'm just going to let you touch. I'm

just going to let you feel my spirit for a Sunday

every three months. So, hey, Lord, hey, you said

you would dwell in us. You see, because that's

the way God works. He likes to dwell in what

he purchased. He likes to dwell, take ownership

of what he delivered. This is why I thank God

for over close to 60 years. He has never left

me one day. He filled me with his spirit and

he never took it back. He dwells in me. There's

a big difference. And so Caleb, he said, okay,

that's enough. You folks can stay up there and

have praise breaks and everything on Shiloh.

But man, I've got to move on and repossess what

God has given me. Praise the Lord. Somebody say

repossess it. And it was Hebron. Caleb had to.

first take back Hebron that was now occupied

by giants. And you know, when Caleb and Joshua

first went over to spy the land, there was only,

out of the 12, only two came back with good news.

You know where they brought the big grapes and

all that stuff from? They brought it from Hebron,

where Hebron was. I'm going to tell you something

here. Look at the typology here. When you conquer

big giants, there's going to be big blessings.

Hello? You know, and that because Caleb never

forgot there's giants there. But look at the

fruit. It's huge. So I want to encourage somebody

here today that if you can conquer that giant,

you're going to have great blessings. Humongous

blessings. So, but he trusted in the Lord's promises,

Caleb did, and was determined to take back and

reclaim what belonged to him. So in Joshua 14,

12, if you can put that up, it says, Now therefore,

He says, give me this mountain of which the Lord

spoke in that day. For you heard in that day

how the Anakim were there. And that the cities

were great and fortified. It may be that the

Lord will be with me. And I shall be able to

drive them out as the Lord said. You know, this

is interesting here because when he says it may

be, it may be, it might, maybe. I would rather,

I would rather bank on that may be God. Than

to bank on every guarantee that the world gives

me. It doesn't matter to me. You're going to

get this. You're going to get these bonuses.

You're going to get all of these things. But

you would rather go with maybe God? I would rather

depend and trust on that maybe God will do something.

Than to trust on something else. God's maybe

is bigger than your almost. Are you hearing what

I'm saying? Oh, hallelujah. Some trust in chariots,

some trust in all things, but I'd rather trust

in the Lord God. So what did that require? It

required belief and trust from Caleb. There was

no guarantee. But he says, maybe, it may be that

the Lord will be with me. There's no contract.

There's no guarantee. But there was a promise.

And he was holding on to that promise. And I

shall be able. See, the end of that script is

interesting to me. I mean, I can be on that for

a month. It says, that may be. Right at the next

little phrase after the comment says, shall be.

He converts the maybe in God into a shall be.

Just a few words later. So that maybe in God

is a lot bigger than whatever this world could

put up against you. Because if God be with you,

what can be against you? Let me tell you, that

maybe can become a shall be. I shall drive them

out. This passage of scripture is so powerful

in its illustration on how we can overcome fears

and overcome whatever is holding us hostage in

the condition of almost. Romans 8 .31 says, What

then shall we say to these things if God is for

us? Who can be against us? I mean, Romans wasn't

written. Caleb didn't read Romans. He didn't

read them, but he knew God. He knew that God's

maybe. I mean, I don't know if you've ever trusted

in somebody so much, and when they told you maybe,

it was almost like it's done. You know what I'm

saying? I mean, you just have that feeling. It's

done. It's done. I got it. I got it. It's in

the bag. Because you have that much trust. And

that's the kind of trust that Caleb had in his

God. Israel had almost succeeded in possessing

their promised inheritance. But they settled

in Shiloh, which is altogether not a bad place.

It was a place of peace, a place of rest. But

it was not the time for rest. It was a time to

claim the inheritance. There's folks that are

just waiting on the sidelines, you know, to see

what happens. You know, there are those that,

you know, like they say, I don't remember the

complete saying, but there are those that watch,

and then there's other ones that wonder what

happened, and then there's those that make it

happen. Caleb was one of those that just made

it happen. He didn't wait for everybody else

to agree with him. He made up his own mind. So

this is all about us. The giants we face, such

as the sons of Anak, are within. They have an

intimidating, oversized impression and influence.

There are oversized problems that are in our

lives such as fear, addictions, doubts, insecurities,

and even generational strongholds. Well, my granddaddy

was a poor man. I guess I'm going to be a poor

man. You know, we just hang on to those things.

I was abused and I'm going to be abused all my

life. And, you know, we just hang on to those

things of the past and bring them into our prison.

They can hold you hostage to the belief or feeling

that I can't. I'm stuck. I'm here at Shiloh.

What am I going to do? Well, let's just have

another praise break, man. Could you make it

a little faster now? You know, because I really

got to forget about my problems. So the faster

I go, the more I forget. That's what some folks

think, right? Amen. But Caleb's relentless faith.

Moved him into saying, I don't want to live with

almost having conquered. I want to altogether

take what belongs to me. I'm not going to settle

for anything less. Nobody is going to go to a

store and pay something with a $20 bill and it

costs you $10 and accept $7 change. He said,

hey, hey, hey, you owe me three bucks. You want

the whole thing. You're not going to almost say,

well, that's okay. You almost gave me the right

change. Wait a minute. You're going to give me

the right change. Nobody's going to accept you

almost. You're close. You're like 20 bucks off.

You're close. No, no, no. Give it to me, man.

And you'll stay there and you'll argue with that

person all day long, you know, for 10 cents or

whatever it is. But you know, you're going to

fight for your money because why? It belongs

to you. That's mine. You're keeping what's mine.

When somebody's got what you've got, what belongs

to you, you're going to fight for it, man. Hello,

somebody. Caleb declared, I may be, it may be

that the Lord will be with me. God has given

us a spiritual inheritance, but we must actively

drive out. the giants in our lives, in our hearts,

to live the fullness of God's promise. There

are people that are living their lives, amen,

at Shiloh alone. And that was never meant for

you. It was not meant, yes, I know the tabernacle

is there, and everything is there, but that wasn't

the promise God gave you. Let me quickly identify.

The giants that Caleb faced. In Joshua 15, 14

it says, Caleb drove out the three sons of Anak.

From there, there was Shashe, Ahaman, and Talmai.

The children of Anak. Let me first talk about

Shashe. We're talking about the giants that Caleb

had to face here. And we're going to try to break

it down for you so you can understand that sometimes,

you know, like this one, it's not going to be,

you know, colorful. It's going to be black and

white. Okay? Now, first, Sashay. His name means

whitish. And what does that mean? Almost white.

Right? That's what his name means. Look it up.

Whitish. Where in the world did somebody get

that? But I love it. Because this is what the

first giant he had to face. He had to fight a

giant that was all... white, but not white, right?

While pure white reflects Christ's transforming

power and glory, such as in Isaiah 118, where

it says, though your sins be as scarlet, they

shall be as white as snow. You see, when God

does something in our lives, he doesn't make

you whitish. Hello? He makes you pure white.

There's not a white more whiter than that. They

say, whitish? No, man. Like, man, this is white.

It's not compromised. Well, it's almost white,

you know. No, no, no, okay, almost white. You

owe me 20 bucks. Get almost. Give it to me. And

this is what it is. So it's not almost white.

A little whitish. Brother, how do you feel inside?

A little whitish. I thought that you were like

pure white. Yeah, he washed me, but I'm still

a little whitish. Brother, that don't make no

sense to me. And that is the way the devil works

with it. Ah, you're saved. You're delivered,

but... Yeah, a little swig once in a while, you're

going to hurt nobody. Besides, Jesus drank wine.

Yeah, but you were an alcoholic, bro. You used

to drink John Daniels. No, hey, you know, a little

white, what's going to hurt? A little white.

It doesn't say that he's going to make us whitish,

which is almost white. It's altogether white.

Somebody say praise the Lord for white. Whitish

appears clean. But it actually covers an underlying

decay. Let me explain that to you. Caleb had

to evict everything that was whitish. Whitish

spots. And this is, you can look it up in Levitical

laws. Whitish spots on the body in the Old Testament

needed to be examined by the priest. Because

in most cases, whitish spots meant that there

was hidden leprosy beneath. Oh, it's getting

ugly now. Yes, it is. Because God doesn't, he

didn't go to Calvary. Give his life and blood

to wash you to be whitish. He gave everything

so that you can be pure white as snow. And so

what does that mean? That means all the sin that

is within you needs to get purged out. Now, the

baptism is powerful, but continued living is

up to you. And sometimes we do, we take Hebron

and then we go to Shiloh and have religion for

a while. We have a few praise breaks and we're

running around with everybody else, you know,

high -fiving and everything on Shiloh while you're

leaving Hebron for the giants to play with. Help

me somebody right here because the reality is

this. God washed you pure and white. We got to

maintain that pure and white. By the blood of

Jesus, you apply it to yourself every day. In

the name of Jesus, get out of my mind. Get out

of my life. Get out of my house. You get out

of my life. In the name of Jesus, I'm pure and

white. I don't have whitish, you know, covering.

I have pure white. God. washed me completely

and wholly. Somebody say praise the Lord. I know

I can stay there for longer but we're going to

go to the next giant. Then there was the giant

Ahaman whose name means very subtle and entrenched

intellectual reasoning. What does that mean?

Almost truth. Almost truth. It's almost truth.

Man, that sounds good. Wow, the way he put it.

Yeah, the way they explained it. Wow, it's almost.

It's almost there. We are almost the owners of

the house. Almost. Come on, brother. Show me

the deed. Well, you know, you're almost. No,

no, no. Show me the deed. I want to see it. I

want to see my name on it. Almost truth. Listen,

this is intellect, intellect, head knowledge.

Science and intellect is their basis of foundation

of belief. You got to prove it to them over and

over and over. This is a very powerful and deceptive

condition within any person. that usually includes

to gain, grain the truth or manipulate the truth

and transforms it into what we call half -truths

that are difficult to identify because they are

almost truth. Well, you know, I run into, I had...

Man, I'm telling you, I had some real debates

at work years ago. When I worked at IBM, I had

some serious debates with this man that came

in and wanted to sell me a book. It was written

by George Gentile, actually, but we called him

Gentile. And his church was right there on McLaughlin

Street in San Jose. And I said, so what's all

this about? He says, oh, man, we're winning all

the apostolics over. I says, winning them over?

Like, what do you mean? He says, well, you know,

their heir is the oneness of God. I says, you

got to be kidding me right now. I said, get your

Bible, sir. He says, well, I'm going to get this

book. I says, no, I don't want your book. I want

your Bible. Get your Bible. Let's talk about

this. Well, I said, and then he says, well, do

you know about the triune God? I said, the triune

God. I said, never heard of it. And he says,

well, it goes like this. We baptize in the name

of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, well, okay,

it kind of sounds right. Kind of truth. Almost

truth. He says, we baptize in the name of the

Lord Jesus Christ. And I says, okay, explain

it to me. He says, Lord is the Father. Okay.

Jesus is the Son. And Christ is the Holy Ghost.

I says, that's a trinity. He says, yeah, that's

what I said. He says, it's triune God. I says,

get out of my office. It was packaged differently.

And there's a lot of that in the world. That's

just one that I had to deal with. And boy, let

me tell you, I had to fight for that because

he was trying to steal some new converts that

I had just won to the Lord. And he was walking

around. I rebuked him all day long, every day.

Get out of here. I rebuked. Go, man. It was almost

truth, but we baptize in the name of the Lord

Jesus Christ. But it was a triune God, Trinity,

disguised. And you know, this is what happened

when you start messing around with the man's

intellect. They come up with all of these ideas.

Praise the Lord, somebody. They live under the

radar of biblical truth that justifies human

worldly reasoning. It hides in the closet of

God's love. Justifies with human or worldly reasoning.

It says it hides in the closet of God's love

and forgets that Jesus said, if you love me,

keep my commandments. Well, God is love. Really?

Yeah, I know God. We agree. High five. We agree

on that God is love. But don't stop there. He

said, keep his commandments. Well, he loves me.

No, no, no, no, no, no. Let's back up here. Let's

read scripture. It says, keep my commandments.

If you love me, you're going to keep my commandments.

Well, God is love. Oh, get away from here. You

have half truth. I believe God is love. But he

also says there are commandments we need to follow.

Praise the Lord. And it didn't say there are

suggestions we need to follow. He's not, you

know, suggesting that we, you know, do this,

live in holiness and all that. He's not suggesting.

He's commanding it. Because he loves us and we

love him. Are you hearing what I'm saying? Amen.

Tell somebody he could stay there longer, but

he's moving on. Then there's the giant. whose

name means furrows. You want to put that up the

next one? I think it's the next one. Furrows.

Whose name means furrows. Ingrained habits rooted

in sense reasoning. Almost convincing. Praise

the Lord, somebody. The furrows. Are not what

many people think agricultural furls, you know,

how they make the furls in agriculture and they're

going to plant seed. No, no, no. It's talking

about a different kind of a furl. There's all

kinds of furls. But theologians lean towards

this. Furls are an entrenchment and are identified

as thought habits. that are ingrained in a person's

conscience that can affect their future thought

process. Stay with me. It symbolizes deeply ingrained

stubborn thought habits rooted in sense reasoning,

relying solely on the physical five senses rather

than spiritual truths that are almost convincing.

He's the Lord. Human or common sense. Anybody

ever hear common sense? That's common sense.

Common sense reasoning. Where does common sense

come from? It is relying strictly on physical

human perspectives. Proverbs 3 and 5 says, trust

in the Lord with all your heart. And lean not

unto your own understanding. Praise the Lord

somebody. I don't know if you got any giants

trying to get in. But you got to keep these giants

out. And that's what Caleb had to do. In order

for God to completely occupy. You know why? Because

God doesn't share a temple. You didn't hear that.

God doesn't share a temple. He's not going to

sit, hey, how you doing over there? Well, I'm

Demon Jack over here. Who are you? I'm Jesus

Christ. Oh, okay. Welcome to the house. What

are you here for? I'm here to disrupt things,

destroy, mess things up, mess around with his

head, you know. Oh, really? He's not going to

sit there and have conversations with demons.

And giants. That is up to you to decide. You're

going to get rid of that guy. You're going to

get rid of that giant. You're not going to start

depending. I don't care how smart you are. You're

not going to get through the pearly gates with

your intelligence. You're not going to get through

the pearly gates with common sense. You're going

to be totally... forgiven, washed white as snow,

and he has to dwell inside of you, and he will

not share residences with other giants. What

we learn from this in our own personal spiritual

battles that sometimes ground that we conquered

early in our Christian lives. is lost because

we failed to occupy it fully. And we must regain

it again. The battle is not over until we are

living in the promises of God and our lives are

fully occupied by His presence and full submission

to His will. Let's not surrender to an almost...

about our Christian life and future, but live

in the promises God has ordained for every one

of us. Stand with me. Caleb was determined to

take back what was promised to him and was determined

to defeat and conquer. what stood in his way

we need to take this same approach because god

did not save us so that we could survive but

so that we can thrive and this is important for

us today let's take this approach i you know

i'm not i'm not directing myself to any one purpose

i person i'm directing myself to what can happen

and how you can have victory. If there are certain

things in your life that you know have just been,

you know, at the forefront of everything you

want to do, they come up, fear, you know, you

can't get over that. Well, in the name of Jesus,

you need to decide that God's going to occupy

your life completely. You're not going to just

be, you know, almost white. You're going to be

white. The devil hates white. He hates white.

This is why he's come up with anti -whites, you

know, and other things that look white, but they're

not white. And, you know, they sing the same

songs, you know. Their temples are bigger. They

got bigger, you know, platforms. And they sing

some of the songs we sing. But that... That doesn't

mean that it's correct. God helped them so they

can see, that others can see, that they need

to allow God to dwell in them, just like us need

God to dwell in us completely. And we need God

not only to possess us and win us, but we need

him to occupy us with his presence. Can you lift

up your hands? Are they where you are? Amen.

Lift up your hands. Let's go before the Lord

right now and just, whatever it is in your life,

I know that it's not going to happen right here,

right now, but possibly, you know, through this

week, you can meditate on this thought and ask

God to help you to identify those things within

you that could potentially be one of those giants.

Maybe you're depending too much on your intellect.

Maybe you're... depending too much on common

sense and maybe you're just thinking it's okay

but no ask god to to give you a pure mind a pure

conscience and so that you can make good decisions

so that you cannot live a life of almost but

you can live as the apostle paul said all together

altogether, amen, totally in God and God in you.

In the name of Jesus, I declare this upon the

church today, Lord. I pray that every one of

us here today, we could continually do a self

-assessment of our lives. And be able, Lord,

to see if there be any wicked thing from within,

Lord, that we can identify it and evict it out

of our lives. To get it out, Lord, of our mind,

our conscience. Lord God, in Jesus' name, I pray

that we can live. every day victoriously, knowing

that you truly occupy our lives and that we are

yours, God, and you are ours. In the name of

Jesus, I pray and declare it. Amen. God bless

you for your time.