WEBVTT - Pressure Points 0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:04.120 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:04.840 Church and. 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:05.840 This is our podcast. 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:08.360 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:11.080 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:13.600 gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:20.400 Enjoy the message. I want to continue to look at 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:24.319 something from Paul's life this week, and I want to 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:26.280 talk to you for a few moments about pressure points. 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:30.920 This message is only if you've been experiencing some stress, 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:37.040 or maybe a considerable amount of uncertainty about some things, 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:40.479 or life has seemed a little too much for you. 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:42.839 That's the only people that's going to bless today. So 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:43.400 if you need to. 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:46.560 Leave now because that's not applicable to you. 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:47.479 Feel free. 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:49.400 But the rest of us we're going to go over 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:53.680 to Second Corinthians chapter four. I think I want to 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:56.560 do verse five. Yeah, I think I gave you verse five. 0:00:56.840 --> 0:00:59.320 I was trying to decide how much to read. You understand, 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:01.840 that's the issue you. Every week is all so good 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:05.800 and I want to eat it all, but I know 0:01:05.840 --> 0:01:08.840 you can only digest so much, and so I want 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:11.080 to talk about pressure points. But let's kind of get 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:14.759 into it. Here from Tewod Corinthians four or five, where 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:18.160 Paul is talking to a church that he has authority 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:21.880 and responsibility for. He says, for what we preach is 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:26.360 not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:27.039 your servants. 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:28.240 For Jesus's sake. 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:34.080 For God, who said let the light shine out of darkness, 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:38.560 made his light shine in our hearts to give us 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:44.080 the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:45.080 the face of Christ. 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:47.319 But we have this treasure in. 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:52.480 Jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:58.840 is from God and not from us. We are hard 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:05.040 press on every side, but not crushed, perplexed but not 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:09.440 in despair, persecuted but not a band and touch. 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:12.520 Somebody say, I'm not alone. I'm never alone. 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:13.680 So if you want to roll up on me, you 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:15.120 need to know before you start anything. 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:20.080 I got angels all around me. I've got a great 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:21.280 God down deep. 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:28.600 Get back to the scripture for Nick, where was I Yeah, 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:35.000 not abandoned, not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed. We 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:38.040 always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:41.560 so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:43.840 in our body good un too verse sixteen. 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:46.120 Therefore we do not lose heart. 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:50.720 Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:55.519 being renewed day by day. Four our light and momentary 0:02:55.600 --> 0:03:01.239 troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that outweighs 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:04.119 them all. I can tell we're going to have church 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:07.079 today because you won't even let me read my scripture. 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:08.919 Look how excited you are. 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:14.399 About the glory of God being revealed in your life. 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:18.480 So last verse I'm going to read for now. 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:23.160 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:28.720 but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:34.200 but what is unseen is eternal. And you kind of 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:36.000 get a different picture here of Paul than you got 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:40.920 last week, because last week we were hearing Luke, who 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:45.640 wrote the Book of Acts, describe what Paul did. But 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:49.520 this is not someone describing what Paul did. This is 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:53.880 Paul describing how he felt. And the tour really different. 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:59.880 The tour really different because sometimes someone can make something 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:04.480 looks so easy that you assume that it is, make 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:09.480 it look so effortless. Holly makes parenting look so effortless, 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:11.640 and then every once in a while she leaves them 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:15.200 with me for thirty five minutes so I can remember 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:15.760 how much I. 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:17.240 Need her in my life. 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:20.560 But she just does make it, just makes it look easy. 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:24.400 Touch somebody say you make it look too easy. Sometimes 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:26.640 I think you don't even need faith because you just 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:27.040 got it. 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:29.120 And it makes me feel bad about. 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:31.680 Myself because I look at you and it looks easy. 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:33.640 That's why I hate working out with Buck makes it 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:34.839 look easy. 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:36.480 And I get under that same weight. 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:39.839 And he got twelve of them and I'm on number two, 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:42.880 crushing my sternum. But since you asked me for some 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:47.720 parenting advice, let me get some parenting advice. Actually it's 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:50.400 kind of life advice. I don't think I ever told you, Holly, 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:54.560 what Eric Ferrell told me. Eric Ferrell is pastor in Virginia, 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:59.120 and so I have a lot of ministry advice filed 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:02.239 away in my mind because I've been preparing for ministry 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:03.640 since I was young, because I thought. 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:04.720 This is what I was supposed to do. 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:07.080 So I took a lot of opportunities at a young 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:09.920 age to ask people, Hey, tell me one piece of advice. 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:11.560 You know, if there's only one thing you could tell me, 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:14.559 and so I was kind of trying to get ready 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:17.880 for it and prepare for the pressure of ministry. And 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:20.040 nothing can really prepare you for it, but you know, 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:22.080 maybe somebody can tell you something that you can. 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:22.719 Hold on to. Well. 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:26.120 Eric Ferrell was kind enough he invited me into his church. 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:28.960 And this was right around the time that Elevation Church 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:32.160 was starting. Elijah was a baby, and I asked him, 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:33.880 what do I need to know to make it. 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:35.640 He's been in the same church for thirty years. 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:37.159 I thought he could probably give me a little bit 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:39.760 of insight on how to make it for the long term, which. 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:39.960 Is the goal. 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:43.479 He goes, and he's a real fast talker, real fast 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:44.000 talker guy. 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:45.680 He goes, pressure. 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:51.040 Management is all pressure management. You gotta manage the pressure, 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:54.560 you know, manage the pressure. You go off and you 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:57.920 know ruin your life and manage pressure. You managed pressure, 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:02.159 And I said, how do you manage He said pressure? 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:08.560 He goes play and I thought I heard him wrong. 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:12.240 Because I heard play, But I thought, sure, he probably said, pray. 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:15.120 That's what we tell you to do, you know, just 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.760 pray about everything makes everything better when you pray. And 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:21.000 we're gonna tell you sometimes your mind is so scrambled 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:22.479 that you can't even figure out. 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:24.640 What to pray. We don't talk about that. Just pray. 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:28.479 But he didn't say pray. He said play. He said play. 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:32.600 You gotta play, he said, especially with your kids. He said, 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:35.120 when your kids get a little older. When you get home, 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:36.560 he said, this is what saved my life. That's what 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:37.800 kept me from having an affair of this is what 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:39.240 kept me from running off shooting one. 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:40.320 Of the deacons. He said. 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:44.039 He said, every day when I got home, no matter 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:45.880 how bad the day had been, I just got down 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:49.760 on that floor and played with my kids. He said, 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:51.159 So do that. He said, when you don't feel like 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:52.720 I do it. In five minutes into it, you feel 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:56.359 like it. And I took his advice. I have I 0:06:56.400 --> 0:06:58.640 play with my kids. I think that's really my only 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:01.479 hobby in life is torture. 0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:08.360 I mean playing with say that I love the most 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:11.200 recent game that I made up. I'm gonna do this 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:14.119 with with you, JT. So I'm gonna just just sit there. 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:19.720 I play games with them that involve pressure and and 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:23.120 and Holly. Holly has to leave the room because these 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:27.880 games can get aggressive and for different parts of their body. 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:31.320 It all started with the calf muscle. And this is 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:33.720 now I'm gonna tell you the names of these things. 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:35.360 And I won't spend long because I know they came 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:38.480 to hear a Bible study. But just so you can 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:42.360 respect my creative parenting, it started off with this move 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.920 right there where I squeezed that calf. Now, now Abby's 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:51.040 calf muscle didn't quite like yours, but I squeeze that 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:53.200 things so tight. That's called and I don't know why 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:54.680 we call it this. I don't even remember how it started, 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:56.480 but it's called the Alabama Creamshaw. 0:07:56.960 --> 0:07:59.720 I don't know how. I don't know Alabama Creamshaw. 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:05.040 Then me and the boys were going to Liberty University, 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:08.040 so that's in Lynchburg, Virginia. So we've been at the 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:13.200 Lynchburg like squeeze. By the way, if you ever think 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:15.480 about sitting in the front row at Valentine, you need 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:18.080 to know this is like the splash zone. 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:20.920 At Sea World, and you gotta be willing to participate. 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:23.840 If you come over here. You fell. That pressure feels good, 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:24.320 doesn't it. 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:35.400 We got the h the Pennsylvania poke, the Pittsburgh pinch. WHOA, 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:40.400 there's some other ones. I'm not going to do I'm 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:50.360 not going to do the Boston, but Chicago shoulder right there, 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:54.120 right there feels kind of good. So here's what Grandma 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:56.920 always will dude, before I get started, He'll go, He'll go, 0:08:56.960 --> 0:08:59.440 wait a minute, what level are you going to do 0:08:59.480 --> 0:08:59.760 this on? 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:05.880 What level? What level of pressure? 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:12.360 Because I need to know before I submit myself. Have 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:20.360 you ever wanted to ask God before I do this? 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:25.120 Before I trust you on this. 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:26.719 What. 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:32.880 Level of pressure is it going to involve? 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:35.560 And the truth be told, if some of you would 0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:38.480 have known the level of pressure that came along with parenting, 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:46.080 you would have stay celibate, because, hey, you prayed for 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:48.720 the baby, but along with the baby came the pressure. 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:50.520 Write this down. 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:57.200 With privilege comes pressure, And sometimes I see people who 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:03.800 want certain privileges but don't welcome the pressure that comes 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:09.280 with the privilege. When we see Paul and Second Corinthians, 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:14.160 we are getting a picture of a minister and a 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:15.640 man who is. 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:17.080 At that point. 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:19.840 Have you ever been at that point of pressure where 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:24.480 it feels like something is unraveling on the inside of you. 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:28.120 I don't necessarily mean it's a clinical breakdown, but Paul 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:30.839 is under pressure, he says, from every side let's read 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:33.120 it again in verse eight, because I think it describes 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:37.240 something that maybe you've experienced, maybe not on Paul's level, 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:40.439 because there's levels to it. But one thing that I 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:44.560 have learned is that pressure is relative. So when a 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:48.200 sixteen year old gets their heart broken, they don't have 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:52.120 the wisdom of experience to know that there will be others, 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:56.000 and so it really does feel like they want to die. 0:10:57.160 --> 0:11:01.120 And a lot of times you minimize other people's misery 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:05.880 because you have graduated beyond that season. But if you 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:09.000 could find the compassion to remember there was a time 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:12.400 when you too listen to Milli Vanilli blame it on 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:18.720 the rain seventeen times, Oh just me, when Melissa Hydrick 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:22.280 broke up with you, Oh just me. There was a 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:26.040 time when the pressure. 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:26.440 Felt so great. 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:32.240 Paul said, we are hard pressed on every side, and 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:38.360 that means it was all of the areas at once, 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:41.280 all at once. 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:44.000 And I believe that. 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:47.920 The times in our life when we are able to 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:54.040 pick our battles and focus our concentration, generally most of 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:56.760 us are able to stand up under pressure if it 0:11:56.840 --> 0:12:00.120 is coming from one directions. 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:04.880 When I can't find any relief. 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:12.440 On any side, Sometimes when I preach, I'll be preaching 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:18.400 to one side and and and then I'll turn to 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:22.960 another side, and then I'll turn to another side to 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:26.560 see is this helping anybody? And if I can't find 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:31.640 any love in the middle, on the right, on the left, 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:34.080 sometimes I just turn around and look at LJ because. 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:37.439 I pay him to look happy. 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:44.280 But Paul says it was coming at us from every side. 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:47.160 Now I understand what this means for Paul, because last 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:49.360 week we were talking about Paul on an island called 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:52.920 Malta a little later in his ministry, and he's there 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:55.400 is a prisoner and he makes it through a shipwreck, 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:57.800 and Luke gives us a picture of Paul that is 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:01.480 kind of a heroic portrait be because Luke respected Paul 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:04.120 so much, and he talks about how Paul got up 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:07.880 and gave a motivational speech to the other prisoners about 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:11.560 courage and faith in God no matter the circumstance, and 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:14.040 how Paul prayed and had a vision and then relay 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:16.920 that vision to the people to inspire their faith, because 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:21.120 sometimes somebody is waiting on you to encourage them to 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:23.839 put courage in them that they don't have right now. 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:25.480 And so Paul did that. 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:27.720 And then when Paul got to the shore, he gets 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:28.600 bit by a snake. 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:30.719 Remember did anybody listen to the message? 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:34.600 And watch how cool and calm and collected Paul was 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:37.560 on the shore of Malta. The snake didn't even seem 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:40.439 to bother him. He didn't rebuke the snake. He didn't 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:42.600 cry out to God, he didn't in the name of 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:45.120 Jesus plead the blood of Christ the lamb. He just 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:47.760 shook it all so cool. Don't you admire people who 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:49.800 are like that? By the way, don't you hate people 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:51.960 who are like that? By the way, Just people who 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:54.880 never get rattled, Just people who nothing bothers them, Just 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:57.679 people who shake stuff off. And Lucas telling us, man, 0:13:57.720 --> 0:13:58.440 it was amazing. 0:13:58.480 --> 0:13:59.079 I was there. 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:01.160 Paul just shook the snake off and in the fire, 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:02.840 it was amazing. And they thought he was gonna die, 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:04.040 and he didn't die, and he just stood there and 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:05.560 they thought he was gonna swell up, but didn't even 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:07.400 say anything. And he just stood there. And then he 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:09.880 went to Publias's house and he started healing everybody, and 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:11.800 it was amazing. And then Paul went to Rome and 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:13.719 he lived in a rented house for two years, and 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:19.560 and and and Paul says, way, man, women, it wasn't 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:30.040 that easy on the inside. 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:32.800 Because what you saw. 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:36.440 Was what I did, But you did not see the 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:38.160 doubts that I had. 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:39.280 While I was doing it. 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:47.000 You make it look so easy sometimes that nobody even 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:50.560 knows that you need to be encouraged because you just. 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:53.440 You just do that. You just do it. 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:57.800 You just pay the bills, you just smile at people, 0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:02.160 you just dress well. You just walk strong and walk 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:05.920 tall and walk proud. But on the inside, Paul said, 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:09.520 I was so pressured. I couldn't find relief on the right, 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:12.280 on the left, in the middle, I looked top, I 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:15.360 looked down, I looked all around. I couldn't find a companion. 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:19.400 I couldn't find a helper. But I didn't die at 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:31.720 the pressure. Fore pressure but not crushed. So they have 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:35.320 sayings that they put out, sayings that they put out 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:40.960 to encourage you under pressure. And we say that pressure 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:43.640 makes diamonds. You ever heard that pressure makes diamonds. Raise 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:46.000 your hand if you've heard pressure makes diamonds. Pressure does 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:52.200 make diamonds, but it also makes dumb decisions. Hello, for real, 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:59.080 pressure does make diamonds, but it also makes divorces. Pressure 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:03.760 does make diamonds, but it also can leave you the 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:05.120 proud owner of a timeshare. 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:10.440 Some of the things you do under pressure. 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:20.520 Pressure, I don't think. I don't think God wants to 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:26.560 prevent pressure in our lives. Though, I think, let's read 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:31.240 it again. I think there's a point to the pressure, 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:36.280 and maybe today you have come to that point. Paul 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:40.720 describes it. He said, in verse ten, we carry around 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:42.480 in our body the death of Jesus. 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:49.160 It means that I feel like I'm dying inside. That's 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:50.680 the kind of pressure. 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:57.640 That Paul snake shaker, Paul shipwreck survivor Paul, he says earlier. 0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:00.800 In his ministry, he says, there was so much pressure, 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.160 I thought I was dying. 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:12.440 And he says that I was hard pressed on every side, 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:16.560 but not crushed. Now, I always heard people shout about 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:20.080 that verse, but realize that it's not automatic. 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:22.159 You know. 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:22.760 When I read that. 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:25.680 Verse, some people are like, yeah, hard pressed but not crushed. 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:30.879 But that verse suggests that pressure can crush you. 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:35.000 Oh yeah, I've met so many. 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:39.800 People that let the pressure I'm thinking of, Like I 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:42.520 had a friend whose family had a recycling plant and 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:46.919 you'd see the cans just crushed into these cubes. I 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:52.919 have seen people crushed into cubes and melded into a 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:56.879 little bit of nothing and sent away, and their dreams 0:17:56.920 --> 0:17:58.440 deferred and their. 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:00.560 Hope crushed because pressure. 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:05.040 So before you shout I'm pressed, but not crushed, realize 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:08.200 that if you don't know what to do with the pressure, 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:11.800 it will crush you. If you don't know what to 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:19.840 do with the snake, poison will kill you. I'm pressed, 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:26.840 Paul said, but I'm not crushed. I'm perplexed. That's mental pressure, 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:33.800 but not in despair. I'm persecuted. That's pressure from other people, 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:38.720 but not abandoned. I'm struck down, but not destroyed. 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:39.840 Not see a contrast. 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:45.560 It is the contrast between what is pushing on Paul 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:49.080 and what is pushing in Paul. Can I preach a 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:53.880 little bit. I'm gonna help you today because your pressure 0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:59.000 is trying to point to something, and so many times 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:01.720 in my life, listen, I'll help you. So many times 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:05.640 in my life. The reason that I was under pressure 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:13.520 is because I was full of pride. He said, we 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:20.040 have this power, this treasure in earthen vessels or vessels 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:25.719 of clay, an ordinary vessel, and it's an extraordinary power. 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:31.720 And so I'm an ordinary person with an extraordinary promise 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:36.880 of the presence of God. But sometimes I get confused 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:39.400 and I forget that. 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:42.360 I'm just the pot I'm not the power. 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:49.600 And sometimes I get so burdened because I put the 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:55.879 weight of the world on my shoulders and carry across 0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:59.680 that I'm not strong enough to carry that has already 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:01.360 been married for me. 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:04.200 So I'm under pressure. 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:08.280 Sometimes because I'm full of pride. 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:10.200 And sometimes not all the time. 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:14.919 Pressure comes into your life not because of what you're handling, 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:16.240 but because of how. 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:17.200 You're handling it. 0:20:19.560 --> 0:20:21.920 You forgot your. 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:27.480 Source and you lose your strength. Pressure. 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:34.080 Pressure sometimes points to pride in your life. 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:37.800 Thank you so much, God gave it to me. 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:40.159 I can't preach anything God doesn't give to me. And 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:41.760 God gave this to me. And you know, and I 0:20:41.760 --> 0:20:43.359 think that way is so much easier to preach. 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:48.920 I'm gonna help you. I'm gonna help you. I'm gonna 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:50.000 help you today. If I don't help. 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:52.440 If I help three people, email me email me three 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:54.000 people at Elevation Church dot org. 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:55.240 Three people that I help today. 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:56.840 If you're one of the three it's gonna be email 0:20:56.920 --> 0:20:59.000 dress three people at Elevation Church dot org. I'm gonna 0:20:59.000 --> 0:21:01.399 help three people today who are under pressure, because when 0:21:01.480 --> 0:21:07.879 pressure comes, some of us begin to perform to a 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:11.240 standard that we have projected. 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:19.159 That isn't even true to our purpose. I saw it 0:21:19.200 --> 0:21:19.399 like this. 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:20.800 I can't say it again, Mom, I don't even know 0:21:20.880 --> 0:21:21.240 what I said. 0:21:21.280 --> 0:21:23.400 I hope you wrote it down. My mom says, say 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:24.120 it again. I can. 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:25.760 I don't know what I said. It just came out, 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:29.679 but maybe I could illustrate. You know, I've been preaching 0:21:29.720 --> 0:21:32.840 a lot in the last year about the gap. I've 0:21:32.840 --> 0:21:36.280 been preaching this message really all over the all over 0:21:36.320 --> 0:21:39.480 the country, all over the world. I guess about the gap, 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:42.000 and it's the gap between where I am and where 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:45.440 I want to be, where I am and where I. 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:47.919 Used to be. And I've kind of been defining it. 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:50.000 I think I'm going to keep preaching it because it 0:21:50.040 --> 0:21:52.560 continues to speak to me that there are two gaps 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:55.560 in my life. One is for my gratitude and one 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:56.359 is for my growth. 0:21:57.280 --> 0:21:57.680 Got it. 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:01.400 One is how far I've come. Look back makes me grateful. 0:22:01.960 --> 0:22:04.359 Can't stay there too long, though, because I got to grower. 0:22:04.400 --> 0:22:07.800 I die. But this week I was seeing a different 0:22:07.840 --> 0:22:12.280 gap in my mind, and it's the pressure gap. It's 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:13.080 the pressure gap. 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:15.000 Again. 0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:18.159 I'm not saying that all pressure is bad, but there 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:22.080 is a type of pressure that is rooted in pride 0:22:22.119 --> 0:22:23.760 and manifest in performance. 0:22:25.880 --> 0:22:29.440 And this is it. This is the gap. 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:34.080 Between who I think I need to be and who 0:22:34.160 --> 0:22:40.679 I believe I really am. Stay right there with me, 0:22:40.760 --> 0:22:46.920 because when you think you need to be something that 0:22:46.960 --> 0:22:52.280 you secretly believe you are not, the pressure is crushing. 0:22:54.480 --> 0:22:56.560 When you secretly believe. 0:22:57.080 --> 0:23:01.399 That you need to have an ability, that you need 0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:07.600 to have a strength, when you secretly think this is 0:23:07.600 --> 0:23:10.040 what I do all the time? Okay, therapy session bill me. 0:23:12.240 --> 0:23:14.280 Holly says, I do it. She says that I got 0:23:14.280 --> 0:23:16.199 it from my dad. He's not here anymore, so he 0:23:16.200 --> 0:23:18.200 can't defend himself. So we talk about this genetic stuff 0:23:18.200 --> 0:23:18.600 all the time. 0:23:18.600 --> 0:23:20.119 But my mom is perfect. She's right over there in 0:23:20.119 --> 0:23:24.399