EZ Sermons Online: Almost

This is the story of:

Almost

Gtcotr/ss022005

Key Scripture: Acts 26:28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You almost persuade me to become a Christian."

Turn to the book of Romans Chapter 14

You know:

“I almost didn’t make it here today.”

I. In the winter of 1904 a baby girl was born in Cass County, Texas.

A. There was no sign of life and so, as was the custom, they laid her out at home and the family came to pay their respects. The ground was so frozen that they knew they could not bury her right away. While one aunt who was a Pentecostal preacher was passing back and forth by the child, praying, she thought she saw the baby’s eye move a little. With this she picked the girl up, coddled her and found her to be alive and well.

* This little girl was almost dead and buried

B. The girl grew up and was courted by a young man in her community. He wanted to get married but she would not consent. In frustration he joined the Navy toward the end of WWI. Ready to be shipped out, he received first a letter from the girl saying she had changed her mind and then an offer from the Navy to participate in a reduction of forces and return home. What a miracle.

* They were almost not married

C. Her first two pregnancies resulted in one son being still born and the other died at birth from what they always suspected was a broken neck caused by an attending rural physician. This would be enough to make anyone not want to try again.

* She was almost childless

D. The couple overcame and went on to have one more son and later three daughters. At the age of 18 the oldest daughter secretly got married to a man her family did not approve of. Six weeks later her father forbid her to see this man ever again. Her reply, “I have to see him. I am married to him.” This nearly broke the family apart.

* This mother who had already suffered so much now was almost separated from her eldest daughter, but God intervened and restored the relationship.

II. The daughter had married an alcoholic son of a depression ridden farming family. She had two children in the first three years of their marriage.

A. Pregnant with her third child in 1951, the doctors advised her to abort the pregnancy. Due to complications, the pain of carrying this child to full term would most likely have drive this woman into madness. She refused and endured a very difficult pregnancy. Her mental state in question, ‘crazy’ was the term used then, she delivered a daughter and was then left alone not expected to recover from the childbirth. Her testimony is that she saw two angels wrestling over whether to take her or leave her on earth. She spoke to them and told them she was ready to go but would prefer to stay and raise her three children. One angel then told her that she would stay. For years she told no one of this because she didn’t want to be labeled ‘crazy’ once again.

* This woman was almost taken to heaven prematurely

B. Against all medical advice she got pregnant again in 1954 and began a similarly difficult pregnancy. Strong drugs kept the pain down and even though she was not supposed to have more children, she did - she had a son.

* This little boy was almost never born

C. When her son was born he, like her, was addicted to the strong drugs she had been taking. The baby cried uncontrollably and would each time lose his breath, unable to regain it to the point of turning blue and falling limp. With no other known means to treat this she was instructed by her doctor to immediately put this newborn baby down when he began crying and walk out of the room and close the door and do not go back into the room until long after the crying stopped. Although it was hard, she complied testifying that it was one of the hardest things she had ever been forced to do. After six months the uncontrollable crying stopped. Until then:

* This little baby boy almost didn’t make it

D. That little baby boy was me … As I told you in the beginning …

* I almost didn’t make it here today!

II. On Top Of All Of That

A. In about 1960 I was standing in the back seat of a 1955 Buick when my inebriated dad failed to see a red light in Houston and hit a stopped car. I went flying forward, headed for the windshield when I grabbed my dad’s neck, forcing his head to hit the steering wheel, stopping me from exiting the car. It knocked a hole completely through my dad’s lower lip.