Susan Beckett | The Dwelling Place City Church
In October of 1871, the great evangelist D.L. Moody made, by his own admission, a horrible mistake. He had been preaching in the city of Chicago. Moody drew huge crowds of people to his meetings and on this particular Sunday evening, he drew his largest audience yet. His message was titled, “What will you do with Jesus?” At the conclusion of his talk, he finished up with this statement: “Now I give you a week to think this over. When we come together again, you will have an opportunity to respond.” But it would be a Sunday that many in his meeting would not live to see.
That very evening, a fire began to burn – they now call it The Great Chicago Fire – and legend has it the fire was caused by Mrs. O’Leary and her cow. But in the aftermath, more than 300 were dead and over 100,000 were homeless – almost a third of the city had been destroyed.
Moody himself lost his home and his church, and many of those who heard Moody’s last words were now dead. He reflected with remorse that he would never again give an audience another week to consider the offer to accept Jesus as Savior. ‘Tomorrow’ never came for many of his audience!
I’m sure a good number in Moody’s audience ‘almost made’ decisions for Jesus Christ that night. But, as someone once rightly noted, “He who is almost persuaded is almost saved. But, to be almost saved is to be eternally lost!” Many people today are in an “almost persuaded” bubble – they don’t think they need a savior – they are basically good people but don’t realize that, like all people, we are sinners in need of a Savior.
Like Moody, the Apostle Paul also had amazing opportunities to witness to people. One such occasion happened with King Agrippa and Festus. In Acts 26, Paul lays out his personal testimony and God’s plan of salvation in such detail that at one point Festus leaps to his feet and accuses Paul of being crazy: “Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.” Paul’s response is one of my all-time favorite lines in the entire Bible: “I am not mad most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.” So calm – so matter-of-fact.
But while Festus thought Paul was crazy, King Agrippa believed him, yet wouldn’t do anything about it His response to Paul? “Thou almost persuades me to be a Christian!” As far as we know, they both died lost. Agrippa got no points for being an “almost Christian.”
To me, this is one of the saddest incidents in the entire Bible. Reading through this narrative, we can see this is an example of God reaching out to the heart of a man to give him a chance to be saved. God literally brought one of the leading evangelists of the day to his front door, but Agrippa would not hear.
The competition in the Olympics is always stiff, but the swimming competition can be one of the most grueling in terms of “almost” win-times. The difference between first and second place can sometimes be measured in thousandths of a second. They come so close, they ‘almost’ make it, but only the winner gets the gold medal. “His house almost didn’t burn down.” “She was almost pregnant.” “He almost didn’t get a speeding ticket.” As they say, ‘almost’ doesn’t count except in horseshoes and hand grenades!
When Paul met with King Agrippa, he made a point of telling the king that he had been called “To open people’s eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God.” No different from our call. But, today – living such fast-paced lives – peoples’ attention can be all over the map.
With this in mind, I’ve noticed that there’s a lone word that makes decision-making even more tricky in 2022. Easy to speak, but fatal in the long run, it’s like a shiny object with a false promise to a child. It’s the word that stopped King Agrippa around AD 55 and the word that stalled D.L. Moody in 1871. Without a doubt, it’s Satan’s favorite word…tomorrow!
I think that’s why 1 Peter 3:15 encourages us to “Always be ready to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.” As Clint Eastwood has said: “Tomorrow is promised to no one.” Mañana? Maybe – maybe not.
Bob and Susan Beckett pastor The Dwelling Place City Church at 27100 Girard Street, in Hemet, CA. For more information, you may contact them at DPCitychurch.org
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