The Tragedy of “Almost”

“For the king knows of these things, to whom also I speak freely. For I am persuaded that none of these things is hidden from him, for this has not been done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” Agrippa said to Paul, “With a little persuasion are you trying to make me a Christian?” Paul said, “I pray to God, that whether with little or with much, not only you, but also all that hear me today, might become such as I am, except for these bonds.” The king rose up with the governor, and Bernice, and those who sat with them.” (Acts‬ ‭26:26-30‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

The passage above records a very tragic moment. King Agrippa was on the verge of believing in Jesus as Lord, but he hardened his heart and stood up, rejecting the free gift of eternal life.

His actions are essentially saying this, “Stop it. I don’t want to hear anymore. I refuse to accept Jesus Christ as Lord.”

Other translations render Agrippa’s words like this:

“Then Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time [and with so little effort] you [almost] persuade me to become a Christian.”” (Acts‬ ‭26:28‬ ‭AMP‬‬)

The word “almost” is the great tragedy.

It is like coming so close to the finish line in a race but fainting and being disqualified when you are just a hair’s breadth away.

Hell contains many souls who are “almosts”.

“I should have responded when that preacher asked for us to place our faith in Jesus. Why did I harden my heart? I almost got saved, but now it is too late...”

“Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested me by proving me, and saw my deeds for forty years. Therefore I was displeased with that generation, and said, ‘They always err in their heart, but they didn’t know my ways;’ as I swore in my wrath, ‘They will not enter into my rest.’”” (Hebrews‬ ‭3:7-11‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

It is possible to know with the mind that Jesus is the Son of God and everything that He claims to be, and yet not be saved.

A person has to believe and confess Him as Lord. If you just believe that He is the Son of God but don’t receive Him as Lord, you are not saved.

Even the demons believe that God is real, but they don’t submit to Him as Lord.

The Holy Spirit convicts the hearts of unbelievers about their sinfulness and woos them to receive Jesus Christ as Lord. But they can choose to reject it. Every individual must choose to accept or reject the gift of eternal life.

Yet, it is God’s will for all to hear the Gospel and to be saved. No matter how dark someone’s past is, he can freely receive forgiveness of sins when he places his faith in Jesus as Lord!

If you are already a born-again believer, through faith in Jesus, you have entered God’s rest—the rest of your conscience and also rest from works-based justification.

You are a saint who is already sanctified, justified, saved, holy, righteous, pure, and blameless. The next time you read these words in the Bible, don’t feel condemned or shrink away. These words describe who you already are in Christ.

“Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” (Colossians‬ ‭2:8-10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬)

Dear brethren, you are not an “almost”. You are complete in Christ.

Let someone know the Gospel so that they are not almost, but fully saved through faith in Jesus Christ!

If you are blessed by the daily teachings/devotionals I share freely on this page, you can become a patron on Patreon if you want to receive an additional daily Bible Study teaching, as well as all my eBooks! Your patronage supports this ministry and enables us to “reach more and teach more” in the body of Christ: http://Patreon.com/miltongohblog

"The greater your revelation of Jesus, the greater your capacity to receive from Him!"

What breakthrough are you in need of today? Are you in need of healing for yourself or a loved one? Are you longing for real, lasting peace to take the place of the anxiety and depression you’ve been going through? Are you trying to find safety and security for your future and your family in these uncertain times?

Beloved, the Lord’s heart is for you to have all these things, so much so that He already took the first step to pay for them in full with His perfect sacrifice on the cross. On the cross, He took your sins in his own body and became sin so that you could become the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). With this free gift of righteousness comes every other gift of healing, of wholeness, of peace, and of security.

In today’s sermon, we saw how the more we identify ourselves with the Lord and His righteousness, the more we will see healing flow into our bodies and peace multiplied in our lives. So this week, practice identifying yourself with Jesus and His righteousness. In biblical times, this act of identification was done by laying one’s hand on the burnt offering (a picture of Jesus, our blameless sacrifice). Today, we do this by confessing, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ,” and seeing ourselves exchanging all our sin, sickness, and pain for His righteousness, health, and peace.

Declare the truth of your righteous standing in Christ even in the midst of your challenge. Let it sink into your heart and open the floodgates of blessings that come with being the righteousness of God in Christ!

Read our official sermon notes from this latest sermon, Greater Shalom And Security (Aug 22, 2021) here: https://bit.ly/389euag

Your Flesh as an Instrument for Righteousness

“knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him; knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no more has dominion over him! For the death that he died, he died to sin one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.” (Romans‬ ‭6:6-14‬ ‭WEB‬)

Our human spirit that was dead in sin (inherited from Adam) cannot be reformed through good works. The only way we can be freed from sin is to die to it and be resurrected with a completely clean slate.

This is what happens when you first placed your faith in Jesus. Your old self was in that instant crucified with Christ, and the Holy Spirit resurrected you and made you a new spirit. This new spirit has a divine nature because it is joined with the Holy Spirit to become one spirit.

Since death is the penalty of sin, and you have already died, you have been freed from sin.

Now the true you (the reborn spirit) is already having eternal life because you will never die again.

We have to stop identifying ourselves with our mortal flesh. When the New Testament says “you”, it is talking about you the spirit—the real you.

I like how Paul distinguishes the mortal body (“your members”) as “instruments”. You live in a body, but you are not the body!

Imagine that you are a person sitting in a robot and controlling it.

Paul is telling us to control the robot and use it for righteousness to glorify God. Those who do not understand what has happened to their spirit are the ones who let the robots control them.

They leave the robot in autopilot mode and it takes them wherever it wishes, in the form of being driven by sinful passions and evil imaginations of the flesh. The problem is that the robot’s autopilot mode is faulty, and the error causes it to do evil things that are against God’s will.

Yes, sin is still present in the body, but we do not have to obey its solicitations. Sin is not our master anymore.

Instead, we can tune in to our spirit and be led by the Holy Spirit. Let Him supply your robot with the ability to do what is pleasing to God. All you have to do is realize that you are not the robot. You are the one in the driver’s seat. You are actually holy, perfect, blameless, and righteous like Jesus. Time to steer your flesh well as an “instrument of righteousness to God”!

The epistle to the Romans has got to be one of my favorite books of the Bible. For every believer who is new to reading the Bible on their own, I always recommend starting with John and Romans. Starting tomorrow, I will be embarking on a new Patreon Bible Study series focused on Romans. If you want to receive it, join our community as a “God Every Morning” tier or above patron on Patreon. Looking forward to growing in the knowledge and revelation of God’s word with you: http://Patreon.com/miltongohblog

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Episode 131, A Textual Analysis
===============================
We open with Char sitting too close to the screen who goes on to tell Bell not to sit to close to the screen. In the background is Purple Pony - not sitting too close to the screen and the only blameless character in this entire story. Bell ignores mom's instruction and makes a virtue of sitting too close to the screen by pulling faces. She gets so close she accidentally nudges the camera.
[The opening "Hi" was from later in the VOD and got pulled to the front to set up Char to fail.]

As Bell runs out of and back into shot, we get the first hint of the cooped-up energy that will power the following drama. A misunderstanding occurs between touching and moving - in the literal interpretation of a three year old, accidentally touching the cam isn't deliberately moving it. The potential for conflict increases.

Char rightly involves Bell in her hair drying choices and the shot finishes on Purple Pony exhibiting an expression that tells us what it takes to survive in this household; Pony's seen things we people wouldn't believe.

Char is attacked by her own domestic appliance, makes an appeal for sympathy but gets a wide Pony grin. She puts on a brave face, Bell attempts her first strangulation then possesses the stream, Char gives her first 'not like this' speech explaining why Bell and chores don't mix. Bell proves she and chores don't mix by jumping on freshly folded laundry which fully triggers Char leading to Act 2.

Act 2 - full Bell meltdown. Char's ultra-mom skills birth Bell off the bed and slowly out of the world of pain she created for herself but she's still full of "no". Char counters with breathing, hugging and drinking but Bell responds by banning her from talking to Chat. Char deploys an entire bookshelf plus water plus science in what is rapidly becoming turn based combat then Bell makes a fatal mistake. Instead of banning mommy from making animal noises she instead bans Chat from reading a book we can't see anyway (well, she is only three!). Bell is slowly running out of "no", Char corners her into talking about her feelings (scary, am I right fellas?).

Act3 - age check, strangle #2 and Bell's in possession again. Char counters with "hug" but Bell cruelly starts to follow her knowing full well mommy's got more used to losing followers than gaining them. Bed incursion and the stream is knocked flat, Char enters the fray but Bell kicks clean over her to floor the stream again - our vision's blurred: medic!. Then Bell shows how she did it by kicking her mommy but it's too late: we lost this one Chat. A knockout, two falls or a submission, them's the rules. Game over.

Editor: James 'MOV r0,r0' Staples https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcn-XPhePJ5D5Uc6ExWG3PA

#'99年にトライエースが開発、エニックスが発売した、PS用ARPG作品。
北欧神話をモチーフに、来たるべき最終戦争へ向け、戦乙女"ヴァルキリー"であるレナス・ヴァルキュリアとなって人の魂をスカウトし戦力に加えつつ人間界・天界を駆け巡る。

BGMは桜庭氏が作曲、オーケストラ曲を中心にロック等を織り交ぜ、戦禍のアスガルド・ミッドガルドに相応しい楽曲群を見事に作り上げた。

ドライバ作成：初芝弘也氏
作曲：桜庭統氏

Manufacture: 1999.12.22 ENIX / Try-ace
Hardware: cd-da
computer: playstation
Music Driver Programmer: Hiroya Hatsushiba
composer: Motoi Sakuraba
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00:00:00 01.Epic Poem to Sacred Death (聖なる死への叙事詩/プロローグBGM)
00:03:14 02.Take a Flight (オープニングアニメ)
00:04:32 03.To the Unhallowed Ground (不浄なる地へ/オープニング)
00:06:19 04.Valhalla (ヴァルハラ)
00:09:15 05.Requiem to a Predicament (窮境へのレクイエム/精神集中(通常))
00:09:52 06.All is Twilight (全ては黄昏となりて/アルトリア)
00:13:19 07.Prosperity's Compensation ～ An Introduction (繁栄その代償そして序奏/ヴィルノア)
00:16:20 08.In Water, Air, and Light (水と光と風の中で/海藍)
00:19:11 09.The Road to Glory and Prosperity (栄光と繁栄の道へ/フレンスベルグ)
00:23:30 10.When a Person Changes (人が人ではなくなる時/クレルモンフェラン)
00:26:31 11.Soon We See Shadow and Light (不日参上陰と陽)
00:31:18 12.Emotion Upset
00:33:29 13.Turn Over a New Leaf (Rhythm Version) (ボス戦闘前(通常))
00:35:04 14.Fighting the Shadowy Gods (未確認神闘シンドローム/通常戦闘曲)
00:38:16 15.The Key to Singing the Praises of Victory (謳われし勝利への鍵/戦闘勝利)
00:38:51 16.Doorway to Heaven (天空の扉/フィールド)
00:42:20 17.The Counterfeit Self (虚偽の自己認識/精神集中(ダンジョン発見時))
00:42:56 18.Distortions in the Void of Despair (奈落の底にある歪曲/アルトリア山岳遺跡)
00:46:30 19.Confidence in the Domination (ボス戦BGM(汎用))
00:49:04 20.Artifact (アーティファクト/アーティファクト入手時)
00:49:13 21.Blameless Thoughts (責められぬ想い/ボス撃破後ダンジョン)
00:53:35 22.Ancient Fantasies Eternal (古代悠久あまねし幻想/忘却の洞窟)
00:56:24 23.Eternal Hydrogen Anxieties (憂いし Eternal Hydrogen/凶禍の森)
00:59:38 24.Evil Tales and Obligations (悪趣浄瑠璃すべからく/ゾルデ地下墓地,ローム丘陵のカラクリ屋敷)
01:02:16 25.Clouds of Spray (水煙/竜宮洞窟)
01:05:15 26.Black Blinding Nightmare (まだ見ぬ夢魔に集いし闇/サレルノ実験場跡)
01:08:12 27.Hopeless Resolution (ネルソフ湿地帯)
01:11:49 28.Illuminating Magic Links (魔降臨連鎖概説/ゴーラ教団本部)
01:15:16 29.Oblivion's Joy (悦懌の忘却/奇岩洞窟)
01:19:06 30.The Name of His People is Fear (彼の者の名は、恐怖/ブラムス城)
01:22:23 31.In the Beginning, There was Light (コンストラクタ、光ありき/黒夢塔)
01:26:02 32.Out of Chaos (カオスへの派生/暗黒塔ゼルヴァ,奉竜殿)
01:29:12 33.An Illusion of the Brainstem (サッカス侵食洞)
01:32:24 34.Hard Chain Reaction (レザード・ヴァレスの塔)
01:36:17 35.Ray of Darkness, Ray of Light (一条の闇、一条の光 アークダインの遺跡)
01:40:07 36.Delusional Extremities (急滅至極生命力/炎の城塞)
01:43:47 37.Ending the Spiral (そして螺旋の終わりへ/亡失都市ディパン)
01:46:50 38.Rise Above the World (亡失都市ディパン(過去))
01:49:39 39.Eternal Engine of Linguistic Massacre (殺戮言語永久機関/バルバロッサ戦)
01:51:26 40.Negative Roots (否定的な無意識下へ/水中神殿)
01:54:31 41.Circulate on a Windup Doll (レイス戦)
01:56:33 42.Reflections of Trickery (目に映りしものは偽/精霊の森)
01:59:48 43.An Inscription on a Tombstone (古代墳墓アメンティ)
02:03:01 44.Eternal Spirits Arise (目覚めし永遠なる魂/アズタロサ戦)
02:05:11 45.Unstable Balance (不安定の釣り合い/アリアンロッドの迷宮)
02:07:44 46.Recurrent Shudders (回帰性戦慄カテゴリー/天空城)
02:11:10 47.Heads Magic, Tails Curse (表にある魔、裏にある聖/J.D.ウォルス戦)
02:14:02 48.To the Last Drop of My Blood (ヨツンヘイム宮殿)
02:17:27 49.The Nonsense of Reality (真実の戯言/スルト戦)
02:20:16 50.Over There (彼方の地へ/エンディング)
02:23:09 51.A Hollow Heart (空虚なる心)
02:25:22 52.A Tense Atmosphere
02:27:40 53.A Clash of Personalities (戦況報告)
02:28:39 54.Weeping Lilies (鈴蘭)
02:31:50 55.Tomorrow (明日)
02:35:05 56.The Crumbling Id (崩れゆくイド)
02:37:24 57.Through a Thin Haze (薄霧/悲しいイベント)
02:41:33 58.Behave Irrationally
02:43:44 59.Fragments of the Heart (心の小片)
02:46:28 60.The First Unison (アスガルド丘陵)
02:49:57 61.Systematic Enemy (ブラッドヴェイン戦)
02:52:12 62.Vestigal Dream (夢痕/フェンリル戦)
02:55:00 63..Break Down
02:56:14 64.The Neverending Cycle of Reincarnation
02:57:56 65.Turn Over a New Leaf (真ラスボス戦闘前BGM)
02:59:32 66.The True Nature of All (ロキ戦)
03:01:40 67.Becoming Accustomed to Happiness (幸せに、なれますように。/トゥル ーエンド)
03:08:13 68.Fantasy and Reality Intermingled (仮想と現実の混在)
03:10:10 69.Mission to Deep Space (セラフィックゲート)
03:16:03 70.Beast of Prey (レザード・ヴァレス戦(セラフィックゲート))
03:18:56 71.Shiver (フレイ戦(セラフィックゲート))
03:21:37 72.The Climax of the Tower (ブラムス戦(セラフィックゲート))
03:24:03 73.The Incarnation of the Devil (ガブリエ・セレスタ戦)
03:27:20 74.Mighty Blow (イセリア・クィーン戦)
03:30:02 75.Nostalgia Into Hope (希望への望郷 イセリア・クィーン撃破後)
03:33:11 76.Fanfare
03:33:19 77.Storm
03:34:02 78.Strong Wind
03:34:41 79.Water and Church Bells
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

免費的恐怖steam遊戲，玩玩看XD


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