The Almost Christian is the second message from Wesley's 'Forty-Four Sermons'. It was originally preached at St Mary's, Oxford, on July 25th, 1741. The text for this sermon is Acts 26:28; 'Agrippa said to Paul, "You almost persuade me to become a Christian."'
In this sermon, Wesley discusses the implications for those who are 'Almost Christian', who are not yet fully committed in their faith, and then paints a picture of what it means to be 'Fully Christian', emphasizing the importance of radical, zealous devotion to, and love for God.
John Wesley led one of the greatest Christian revivals in the history of England, and his open air preaching saw many thousands of conversions all across Great Britain. The 'Forty-Four Sermons' which he compiled for use by Methodist Local Preachers remains a timeless classic, and a definitive collection of core Wesleyan doctrine, along with his Notes on the New Testament.
Forty-Four Sermons was first published in 1759, over 250 years ago, and since then the English language has changed and evolved to the point that his works can no longer be easily read and understood in their original dialect. Therefore to preserve Wesley's message and to allow it to come to life for a new generation, this project has been undertaken.
The sermons are translated sentence by sentence, carefully and prayerfully. The aim has been to communicate both word-for-word and thought-for-thought, choosing clarity of communication in simple English over archaic sentence structure where necessary, and preferring the original word order when there is no difference.
Wesley used the King James Bible in his original sermons, whereas to remain consistent with the word-for-word and thought-for-thought method used in these translations, the New International Version and New Living Translation have been used instead. The complete original sermon is also included. Each sermon will be translated and published in order, from 1 to 44, and when the series is completed, they will be published as one volume.
