A popular song of a romance that never quite made it says, This time we almost made it to the top, didn't we, girl? And then it goes on to say, This time we almost made our poem rhyme. This time we almost made that long, long climb. This time we almost made some sense of it. This time we almost made the pieces fit. And ends by saying, Didn't we almost make it this time? Life for a lot of people is like that song. They almost made the grade. They almost made that business work. They almost saved their marriage. They almost raised a good child. They almost finished school. They almost became a Christian. But they never quite made it. Because there was something on the inside that was lacking of that good stuff that makes finishers of beginners. The Bible tells us over 11 times of men who began and almost made it, but never quite finished the task and never quite made the grade. In the book of Acts, the 26th chapter, the Bible tells us about a man who was almost converted. King Agrippa, Paul says, You do believe the prophets, don't you? I know that thou believest. And then King Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost. Thou persuadest me to become a Christian. Even as Felix, who trembled before the exhortation of the dynamic preacher, he was so near, but yet so far, and never quite made it. I think that in the sporting field, we have the best example of what it means to almost be a winner. Every football game that has ever been lost, every single baseball game or softball game, had somewhere down the line a degree of inches, by which the man's outfield fly was almost a home run. And the goal line stand was almost a success. I think it has well been said that the only thing in all the world where almost counts is in the game of horseshoes. And then the whole game doesn't count for much. Much sad commentary that here lies a church, here is a business, here is a man, a student, a home, a marriage, that almost made it to the top, but never quite achieved what God had intended for it. Almost is one of the most pathetic words in the world. It is a word that is fraught with near achievement, and yet loaded with total loss. What a shame for a man to never quite achieve in life what God has for him. I don't know exactly what it's going to be like on the day of judgment, but I do know this. Our God has a wonderful plan for every man's life. And if it is this way, I think that one of the saddest days in the world will be when men stand before God, and God unfolds the blueprint that he had for the man's life. And he sees what he could have had, what he could have been, what he could have done and accomplished in this world. And then the silver screen of heaven begins to unfold, that experience of life with one near miss after another. Someone has said that it is well within the realm of possibility that few of us ever achieve more than 10 % of our fulfillment. I have found in my own life that it is so easy to do the things that I set my mind to, but so difficult to set my mind to doing them. How many near misses and almost made -its will there be in our own lives? We're all familiar with the Kroger chain, one of the most successful businesses in the history of America. But few people know that when Mr. Kroger was a young man, he was in business with a man named Scovener. Kroger and Scovener were always discussing and always arguing over who was going to do what. And one day they decided to draw straws and it was determined that the one that got the right straw would go into the management of the partnership and the other would drive the truck and deliver the groceries from store to store. Scovener came up on the short end. Mr. Kroger became the manager and he said all through his life, I miss fame and fortune by a straw. How like so many people like Judas who lived in the presence of Jesus Christ, who ate at his table, who was near him and lived with him and yet betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. Like a thief on the cross who was so close he could touch the Lord Jesus Christ and went out into eternity by the midst of the slip of a breath. Like Herod who trembled when John the Baptist declared the word of God, who admired him and revered him and heard him gladly. And yet because of the influence of an evil person commanded that his head be severed from the body, just that near, he vacillated at the last moment and lost his opportunity for salvation. Herod is an example of almost Pharaoh, recanting time and time again, vacillating, contradicting himself, changing his mind, had the opportunity to be one of the grandest friends of the gospel, but sent Moses away again and again because he could never quite bring himself to master himself, to get hold of himself, to make it. Time and time again at the point of victory and steadfastness, he vacillated in that realm of obscurity and oblivion to which the discards and rejects of life always go because they never quite made it. What good is it to say we almost did it? What comfort is it for a football team to come down to the championship game and by one play or one second say that we lost 35 to 34? We were so close, we almost won, but we didn't. Years from now, the record books will not reveal the one play, the one missed opportunity, which decreases every time a man fails. At that one chance, it will only still go down as a loss. To win is to win. To almost win is to lose. The great football coach Vince Lombardi said that in his opinion, every football team has about 12 to 15 opportunities in a game to win that game. And every one that they blow, every one that they miss, decreases by one the chances that they will ever win the game. They reduced themselves to 8 out of 12 and 5 out of 12 and 4 out of 12 until at last those missed opportunities, that school that was not finished, that business that was not begun, that neighbor that was not won to Christ, that investment that was not made, that sin that was not forgiven, that argument that was not settled because a man came so near and yet so very far away. He reduced until there were no chances left, the opportunity and the probability that he would ever bring victory out of failure. Nineteen times the Bible uses the word almost. And in every case, except three, there is never another opportunity given. And in those three cases, when the opportunity for success comes when they almost made it but didn't, they failed on the second time. So many people verge and live on the verge of greatness and accomplishment and purpose, but never quite make it because there is something absent on the inside that pushes them to a stick to activity, a determination for a productivity and accomplishment of an accomplishment of a goal. And there are the has -beens and once -were's and almost -were's and used -to -be's of life. All of all the insurance in the United States, they tell us that 90 % of the insurance that is sold in this country is sold by 29 % of the insurance salesman. Only 10 % is sold by 71 % of the average status quo man. Now of these men who make the sales, most of the sales are made on the third call or beyond. There is a resourcefulness, a stick -to -activity, a creativeness and a determination that says in a man's life, I will. I will conquer myself. I will make this sale. I will make the right determination. I will make the correct decision and I will stay with it. But of these 71 % of the insurance men who make only about 30 % of the sales, most of them make one call and quit. I'm called upon all the time to address preachers. Three times in the last two weeks I have addressed groups of ministers and I think that all of the time there's a little underlying feeling of give us a new gimmick. Tell us a little pill to take that'll make everything all right. A new shortcut, a new program, a new way to do it. And I always say to them, brethren, there's no substitute for hard work. There's no other way to win people to Christ than for the people to go out and start knocking on the doors and making the gospel sales and presenting the gospel of Christ. And if we're looking for a shortcut to greatness, if we're looking for a shortcut to accomplishment, if we're looking for a shortcut to make the grade as a church or as men or as students or whatever it might be, we will well learn the fact in our youth that there is no shortcut to success. There is no substitute for hard work. To set your mind on the goal and stay with it at every cost is to achieve and assure one of victory. What is it to say to a husband that whose wife was lost in the valley of the shadow of death, giving birth to a child or giving an offer, having an operation or in a moment of crisis and tragedy, sir, your wife almost lived. She almost made it, but not quite. What solace to say to a team that they almost won the game or to a lost man of judgment, almost persuaded, almost you were saved, but not quite. What solace is it to say to a man that almost it rained when death and destruction and poverty are just upon him because of a drought that brings no fertility, that brings no beauty, that brings no life. Oh, but the clouds passed over. We tried. We got so close. It almost rained, but it didn't rain. We almost won the game, but we didn't win. We almost saved the patient, but we did not save them. The Alaska Highway was begun with good meaning people who gave up for one reason or another. They almost finished it. The Alaska pipeline is the same way. It was never finished and stands as a grand monument in time of men who began but never do quite finish. In just a few months, a few days, our seniors from high school and college will be graduating. I want to challenge you young people this morning. When you are fathers and mothers, when you are businessmen and Sunday school teachers, when you fulfill places of responsibility in life, that you have the courage to stick to activity, to take a job and stay with it, and don't be one of the almost who almost were, but never quite did. In Florida, the great Florida Canal, when in sight literally of the goal line, has now been called off because the people decided the price, the result was not worth the price. It too will go down in history as something that was almost finished, but not quite. The TV this week carried a news story about a great bomber that is going to be scrapped. It was within 20 million dollars of being finished. They're going to have to pay off the contracts and scrap the whole thing. It will never be done. It was almost finished. I am saying simply to you that there is no reason in this world, whether in your studies or in sales or in personal discipline or in your marriage that may be on the rocks, to make a failure when success is so easy. There is no other substitute for the fact than that men will get hold of themselves and in the right frame of mind decide, I can, I will, I shall with God. We talk about living under the circumstances. We say, well, under the circumstances we did the best we can, but I am saying to you that our Lord Jesus Christ, who says greater is he that is in you than everything that is in the world, says there need be no reason for failure. We can be winners. We can be finishers. We can be achievers. We can be successful in whatever area of life you have plotted and plan for yourself to be the will of God. There are no circumstances that need get you down. The Bible says, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. And you can do anything you think you can do. You can achieve any goal you purpose in your heart by the will of God to achieve. We speak of being under the circumstances. Oh, what an excuse for futile, frail men who were not made in the warp and whoop of the fiber of their being to stay with the job and get it done and be an achiever for God and for good, that under the circumstances they did the best they could. I don't buy that. I don't believe God buys that. I don't believe life buys that. Almost is not good enough. Almost will not achieve. Almost, you see, is but to fail. Almost is to never have begun. Almost is as good as no. It is as good as none. It is the same as not having accomplished anything at all. Under the circumstances, I say to you that by the power of the indwelling Christ, the Christian can live above the circumstances. We can be on top of the circumstances. We can win. We can finish. We can achieve. We can do what with God in our mind and heart we determine that we shall do. There is on the inside of us. There is on the inside of us, the reservoir, the ability, the reserve, the power to start that job, to finish it, to break that habit, to win that prize, to reach that goal. Whatever God has placed and put and purposed in the heart of your life to do for the glory of God, you can do if you will. Don't be an excuse maker. Don't be an excuse maker. With the power of God in you, the apostle Paul's promise is true. I can do all things through Christ which strengthen of me. I like that. There was a man who was hunched back. He was half blind. He stuttered. He was sick from disease. He was beaten and ridiculed and discouraged and rejected and misunderstood. And yet he took two continents in either hand and shook them to their foundations because that little reject from life had an indwelling faith in God that said, Can do! Can do! I like it when he says, I can do all things through Christ which strengthen of me. I have found the power of the mind to be a great ally to the believer. And when we get steadfastly in our mind and heart and goal the will of God and determine what God's will for us is, we can and shall do, then it is that everything in life begins to gravitate toward the accomplishment of those things we think about. I like what Norman Vincent Peale says. He says the positive thinker doesn't refuse to acknowledge the negative. He merely refuses to dwell on the negative. So are too many people go around in life and get up and start off the day and say, Good Lord morning! When you could as easily get up and say, Good morning, Lord! And with a positive can -do frame of mind, achieve the goal and get it done. Listen to Paul, misunderstood, rejected, humiliated, impoverished, yet a deep abiding faith in God on the inside changed the circumstances on the outside. And he said, I can do all things through Christ which strengthen of me. You as an individual can do anything you think you can do. And ladies and gentlemen, we as a church, at the heartbeat of a great city, pumping blood to its every extremity in a town that needs Jesus so badly, I say to you, we can do what we plan to do and what we dream to do and acquire for the glory of God what he gives us the vision to believe. I heard last week, two weeks ago, over in Florida, from Jess Moody, the pastor of the First Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, who had been up to preach at a great Sunday school conclave for all of the independent churches of the north, the story of Rex Humbard. He's not on TV in Houston. Rex Humbard is no seminary graduate. Rex Humbard is no profound theologian, but his gospel is simple. It is the old -time Word of God, and in a nation that is getting scared and afraid and hungry for the security and the stability of the past, Rex Humbard has gone on television, and he started preaching in a simple way the old -time gospel, the wonderful Word of God, and now his program on 286 television stations all over the country reaches more people than Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. Last month alone, 280 ,000 letters came in. They own four jet airplanes. They have 196 on their staff and are winning 10 and 20 ,000 people through Jesus Christ at the altar of that church every year, and I say to you that there is no city in America. There is no church in America. There is no opportunity in America where that can be duplicated, where a great church at the heart of a great city can do great things for God. Now we lick our wounds and glory and realize the problems of the past and glory in the accomplishments of yesterday, but I ask you today, do you believe? Do you still believe? And I say before you answer that I believe it with every fiber and being and drop of blood in my body that God has placed this church in the heart of a great city to do great things for God. We've not even touched the hem of the garment. I want us to rededicate ourselves to the goal of making under heaven if Jesus is a Christian city if one exists anywhere by the influence and the power of First Baptist Church of Houston. God knows we can do what we dream we can do and plan to do and pay the price to do in our church, in your life, in your home, in your personal relationship to God, in your schools, in your business. Business man, don't give up. Don't give up. Refinance if you have to. Redirect if you have to. Start again. You can do for God. You can do all things through Jesus Christ. Don't be discouraged. Don't be a almost was. Don't be a nearly made it. Don't be a never quite finished man. Stay by the stuff. Dream with one hand in the hand down here of reality and determination and one hand in the hand of the man that rules the water. You can do the will of God in your life whatever it is. Get your chin off the ground. Get your knees up down and get your chin up. Get your shoulders back and walk out of here conquering and to conquer for the glory of God. You can be a winner through the power of God in your life. Dr. Perry Claxton is the pastor in First Baptist Church of Greenville, Mississippi where I preached this week. He told me a story. He was the son of a preacher and he said we never had much as a country pastor and a little boy in the depression growing up. I wanted to go more than anything in this world to a real live circus. He said one day the circus was coming to town and I said daddy I want to go. He said lad you're going to have to make your own money. Daddy doesn't have it. He said I got odd jobs. It was hard but I stayed with it. I paid the price. I worked night until I'd save the two dollars that it took to go to that circus. He said I walked in. I'd never been to a circus before. I walked up and down. He said there was more midway and more shows and elephants. I'd never seen anything like that gorgeous fantasy world of which I dreamed. He said I walked in first of all and there was a little tent and they advertised a man that had fire on the end of a big stick and he'd eat that fire. He said I walked in and paid a dime and I saw the man swallow the fire. He said over here was the world's tallest man and I walked in and paid another dime and stood there starry -eyed as a little boy and looked up at that big tall man. He said here was this freak and here was that one and this oddity and this unbelievable situation. He said my eyes were popping and finally as I finished he said outside there by the very main part of the gate there was the biggest tent of all. He said I heard some noise like the thundering of horse's feet running around. I heard a band playing a tremendous song and I raced up there and I said what is this he said son the man did this is this is the finale of the circus this is the main event and he said I took out my money and said I want to go the man said little fella it's over now you don't want to go in and see this do you where have you been didn't you hear the overture of an hour and a half ago didn't you hear the horses before didn't you hear the roar of the people man where have you been little fella said I've been all up and down sir I've seen all the sideshows and they're great he said little lad I'm sorry you've come so late it's over this is the grand finale you spent all your time at the sideshows son you've missed the main event a lot of people in this world exactly like little Perry Claxton they've been all the sideshows they've had this thrill and that experience and this little taste but they never learned to set their goal upon what God has for them and to stay with it I want you to know that for my life and my church and my people collectively and individually in your life I want you to have the best of God I want you to dream big dreams most people aim at I've absolutely nothing in life and hit it right on the head you can do what you think you can do you can do what God leads you to do put your mind on it get your heart in it and Jesus in your heart you need not be a loser you not need not be an almost Sunday school teacher and almost student and almost businessman and almost Christian you can do it for God's glory and by God's help you can do anything you set your mind and heart to do let's stand together our father in a day of has -beens and never -were's and almost and discards and dropouts and rejects we pray that the spirit of the age which is a spirit of the of ease and a spirit of failure and a fear of a spirit of I can get it wholesale and there's a shortcut and there's an easier way that you will give us a generation of men and women who will think and plan and do big for God set their mind to it and with Jesus Christ's help to set the goal and get started and never go down as one who almost made it but of those who did do for the glory of God grant oh Lord a new spirit of rededication and reviving and re -enthusiasm and restarting redirection for discouraged half -hearted cold despondent unhappy people who started and didn't quite make it help us to know that life is not over that there is still today we know that the sands of time are bleached with the souls of men and women who inside of victory sat down to rest and while resting died may it not be said of this great church may it not be said of any of us in Jesus name amen