Pastor Paul Chappell: How to Abound Over Life's Pressures

well I want you to take your Bibles now as we come to our Bible study time and of course we're doing a little more than Bible state and Wednesday night we're having prayer requests and we're having time to get updates and then of course sing and worship the Lord and song but we mainly gather so that we can open the Bible together and I want you to do that with me right now Matthew chapter 14 and tonight we're going to learn how to abound over life's pressures and there are many pressures that are upon us right now but I'm thankful for the truth greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world and through Christ we can do all things we want to learn how he did all things in the sense of overcoming pressure and I pray that tonight this message will strengthen our faith and so obviously enjoy the comfort of wherever you are right now but again let's stay attentive as we read Matthew 14 to give you just a little background in the first twelve verses we read about the beheading of John the Baptist the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ the friend of the Lord Jesus Christ the one that had baptized the Lord Jesus in the Jordan River and what a tragic moment that must have been in so many ways and yet I want you to see how our Lord responds as we pick up the reading in verse number 13 and read down through verse number 31 when Jesus heard of it speaking of John the Baptist's death he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart and when the people had heard thereof they followed him on foot out of the cities and Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion toward them and healed their sick and when it was evening his disciples came to him saying this is a desert place and the time is now past sin the multitude away that they may go into the village and buy themselves vittles but jesus said unto them they need not depart give you them to eat and they said unto Him we have here but five loaves and two fishes he said bring them hither to me may I say during this season don't focus on what you do not have materially but focus on what you do have in Jesus Christ the Bible says that jesus said bring these things to me thither and he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass and took the loaves and the two fishes and looking up to heaven he blessed and brake and gave the loaves to his disciples and the disciples to the multitude and they did all eat and were filled and they took up the fragments that remained twelve baskets full and they that had eaten were about five thousand men besides women and children and straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into the ship and to go before him unto the other side and while he sent the multitudes away and when he had sent the multitudes away he went up into a mountain apart to pray and when the evening was come he was there alone but the ship was now in the midst of the sea tossed with waves for the wind was contrary and in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them walking on the sea and when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were troubled saying it is a spirit and they cried out for fear but straightway Jesus spake unto them saying be of good cheer it is I be not afraid and Peter answered him and said lord if thou if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the water and he said come and when Peter was come down out of a ship he walked on the water to go to Jesus but when he saw the wind boisterous he was afraid and beginning to sink he cried saying lord save me and immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto Him o thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt well here we have before us tonight one single day in the life and Ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ and I want to just survey this day with you and I want you to draw some analogies perhaps to the days you've had recently perhaps you heard the story of little chippie the parakeet chippie the parakeet never saw it coming one minute he was peacefully seated on his perch life was good he food in his bowl he had fresh breeze blowing through and was enjoying his day the next minute he was sucked in washed up and blown over and little chippy had problems began when his owner decided that she was going to clean his cage with a vacuum cleaner and so she removed the attachment from the end of the hose she stuck it into the cage and right at that moment the phone rang she turned to get the phone and that's when the troubles all begin she barely said hello when swooped chippy got sucked in and their chippy was sucked in finally the bird owner was able to get the vacuum off and she began to search through the apparatus and she discovered little chippy there in the bag of the vacuum cleaner stunned but still alive well the bird was covered with dust and soot and so she grabbed the bird and raced to the bathroom and turned on the faucet held little chippie under the faucet trying to get all the soot off of chippy and then she realized that chippy was soaked and shivering she thought she might have killed him that way and so she decided she would take her hairdryer that worked for her and so she took her hairdryer and she began to blast chippie with the hairdryer and poor chippy never knew what hit him not long after this a reporter came by and wanted to know about the trauma of chippies experience and the reporter said to chippies owner will house chippie doing now the owner simply said well chippy doesn't sing much anymore he just sits there and stares well I know a lot of members of Lancaster Baptist Church and a lot of our friends across the country that have been sitting and staring lately right and and you're thinking now they have stated that coals is non-essential and they have stated that going to Penny's is non-essential I can't go to a restaurant I can't do this I can't do that and you might be just sitting and scaring and being stunned at how suddenly a trial has come upon us and sickness and death and challenges all around us and the of the matter is that when I hear the story of chippy I'm reminded of how suddenly things can really change in our lives it may be a virus it may be a pink slip it may be difficulties with health and none of these are according to our plan and they often come quickly upon us well Jesus Christ is our great high priest and I'm so thankful for that the Bible says for we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin and when I think about that phrase touched with our infirmities I'm reminded that because Jesus Christ came down to this earth because he walked on the sinful roads and pathways of this earth and because he experienced the pains and the difficulties of human life then he can be touched with our infirmities he can understand how we feel and I want to just give you an illustration in our Bible study tonight with this one day in the life of Jesus regarding how Jesus felt and regarding how we can abound over these times of pressure now let's think about some of the pressure that Jesus felt on this day first of all we're going to notice that he felt the pressure of personal loss the personal loss that Jesus experienced notice in verse 12 of Matthew chapter 14 the Bible says these words and his disciples came and took up the body and buried it and went and told Jesus now this is speaking as we said a moment ago about John the Baptist John the Baptist the one who had said behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world this one that was born of the family of Zacharias a man born into the home of a priest and of the course of Abia John the Baptist was raised by his mother and father around the faith and raised up in the rugged Judean countryside and and he was that prophet that foretold the coming of Jesus Christ he was foretold in the book of Malachi sure enough he came and he began to prepare the way of the Lord and what a tremendous day it was when John the Baptist's looked up and he saw Jesus coming down that pathway along the Jordan and he said to his disciples which numbered in the thousands he said behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world when I think about John the Baptist I think about the kinds of preachers we need today men who will appoint others to Jesus men who will cry aloud and spare not and even in times of challenge and difficulty will will show the way of the Lord well that's exactly what John the Baptist did and he meant so much to the Lord Jesus and we're mindful that John the Baptist was killed and as our Lord's Day begins he hears this this terrible news about Herod this incestuous monarch who had taken the life of this holy and godly man and we know that Jesus felt this pressure you're recalling with me tonight perhaps the shortest verse in the Bible John 11:35 you remember what it says two words Jesus wept say those words with me would you jesus wept right now I don't know that you have had that sensation in the last few weeks I think that many of us have had moments where in the reconstructing of our schedules and the evaluating of difficulties that others are facing or things that we face that there can come emotion upon us at the very least and when that happens I want you to remember that jesus wept now that weeping took place at the death of Lazarus again Lazarus sisters thought well why wasn't Jesus more proactive and and we know that in that illustration Jesus allowed that situation so that he could show his power and his deity but I believe that if Jesus wept at the death of Lazarus no doubt he was greatly burdened at the death of John the Baptist and he was 100% God yes he had full knowledge of this event he understood all things past present future but he was 100% man and he felt what we feel and so I want you to know that Jesus felt the pressure of personal loss now sometimes in the beginning of this tragedy that we're facing with kovat 19 there may have been those that would perhaps underestimate the seriousness of it I was listening yesterday to one of the governors out east and and he's a man that is not known for godliness he's a man that we would disagree with on many many different issues but at this particular moment he said something that struck my attention he said in all of the respirators that were sending out with all of the medical efforts with everything we're doing this is what he said if we do all of this and spend all of this money so that one soul is rescued then it would be worth it all now to hear that from a man who does not know Christ as Savior who does not believe in the infallible 'ti of the Bible it reminds us of the truth that we hold as Christians this is why we support missionaries this is why we we are the church because we believe that if one soul is saved through this time then God has a purpose and there are thousands of people that are sick and need to be saved physically but there are millions of people that need to be saved spiritually and we want to remember that and so we look at the life of Jesus this day and we see the pressure of personal loss and I want you to know something there are people in your city in mind that are feeling that pressure when they even hear of this disease there's great concern that comes into their life and Jesus understands that pressure and when we pray to him as our great high priest he feels those infirmities with us there is secondly in the life of Jesus on this day the pressure of political threat political threat now interestingly in verse 13 the Bible says when Jesus heard of it he departed thence by ship into a desert place and when the people had heard thereof they followed him now Jesus hearing that John the Baptist had been killed knowing that the crowds of John the Baptist's were now beginning to follow Jesus rightly so that was the Ministry of Jesus that's the heir of John the Baptist and that's the Ministry of any god called pastor is to point men to Jesus Christ and so Jesus senses that moment and I believe retreated from the crowd perhaps to find time with the Father in prayer perhaps because of the threat imminent threat from Herod and and he had killed John the Baptist it would be very likely that he would come for Jesus next and so Jesus was in this day trying to grieve no doubt the loss of John the Baptist but at the same time trying to deal with the situation that was engulfing him and the people that followed him and sometimes that's how life is we have our own personal areas where we're heavy but at the same time we have to think of others and there are things that God is calling us to do and so it was in the life of Jesus and what I want you to hear in this Bible study tonight he understands he knows all about our trouble I think about how the religious leaders cause such difficulty for Jesus Christ and they fought against his truth and they were jealous of his blessed ministry and the Bible says in Matthew 27 and verse 1 then the morning was come all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death this Sunday morning we're going to continue looking at the cross of Christ I find that studying the cross of Christ always gives me perspective and and when I look at the events leading to the cross I see the religious leaders persecuting the Lord Jesus Christ and what we understand with this is that those who preach the truth that the Bible is the Word of God that Jesus is the only way to heaven that there is a heaven that there is a hell the absolute of the Bible when those things are taught and preached that often even from religious circles there is animosity or from political circles there is animosity so pressure was abounding in the life and Ministry of Jesus Christ the pressure of personal loss the pressure of political difficulty let's notice the third pressure that mounted on Jesus and I'm going to call this the pressure for private time you know I have four wonderful children and we're thankful for our grandchildren and and it's a blessing to be able to try and minister we've been doing a lot of that by way of technology as well but I've heard my daughter's and my sons and daughters and laws say things about wow we kind of really appreciate Lancaster Baptists school and it's amazing to have three kids and to try to teach them and deal with them and do the church work or whatever work they're doing and kind of get everything done under one roof and no doubt those those are busy times our daughter Christine was saying to me I'll thankful she is for the YouTube channel that our children's pastor Nathan Burt has established so that the children can have a Bible story time right into the home during this season and I'm thankful for many things like that that our staff is doing and as I think about this I think about the fact that everybody appreciates some personal time along the way no doubt Jesus would have appreciated that but here he was a heavy heart because of John the Baptist a concerned heart because of the political cares of the world in which he ministered and so finally he gets away and the Bible says in verse number 13 that that he went a by ship into a desert place but it says the people followed him as he went there the Bible tells us in verse 14 and as he went forth and saw a great multitude he was moved with compassion toward them and He healed their sick so here was Jesus simply needing that private time desiring to be apart for a season and yet the Bible says in mark 6 and verse 30 and the Apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus and told him all things both what they had done and what they had taught there was this clamoring whether it was the disciples whether it was the crowds always there upon the Lord Jesus Christ always seeking to press upon him Jesus no doubt was seeking solitude the Scriptures tell us that he departed to a desert place I enjoy doing that myself sometimes and and driving out here into the beautiful high desert of Southern California maybe to the foothills and and looking across the desert floor up to the beautiful San Gabriel Mountains and sometimes just just a few minutes of solitude and taking some time to pray and and certainly Jesus Christ was seeking that but the Bible tells us that as he did he was being followed by the crowds and when he reached Bethesda there were masses of people some believed as many as 25,000 people were gathering around Jesus at this time they had mucks they had walked six miles around Galilee to come and to press upon the Lord Jesus Christ and and what amazes me is that with the grief in his heart with the concern on his mind he still took time to minister and church I want to say this again with all of our concerns with all of our pressures don't forget those in their need those in your Sunday School class that are alone those that are struggling those that perhaps need just an email a text a phone call from you and please make note of the fact that with all the pressure our Savior had upon him what does he do verse 14 he saw the multitude he was moved with compassion on them and then he healed their sick right see the need and take the lead he saw and he was moved I thank God this week a dear family from our church since just a generous extra love offering with a note pastor we know this is a challenging time and use this however it can be used in the ministry they the Lord for the sensitivity to the Holy Spirit I've received a text earlier today from someone that said pastor were taking food certificate gift cards to this home in this home in this home are there any other homes where we could maybe deliver some gift cards see that's that's such a blessing that's not that's not me organizing everyone to go out that's us listening to God and and when we are under the pressure of this season still having a heart to minister to others and that's exactly what we see here in the life of Jesus Christ the crowd sought his attention notice in verse 15 the Bible says and when it was evening his disciples came unto him saying this is a desert place and the time has now passed cyntha multitude away that they may go into the village and buy themselves vittles you see the the disciples they didn't always have the right perspective and their perspective was you know let's let's send these people home because you know you've got bigger and better things to do and and let's let's just not let this be a distraction but look what Jesus says here in verse number 16 but jesus said unto them notice this the need they need not depart give you them to eat right I'm so thankful that God knows everything I'm so thankful that when we're looking for a way out he's looking for a way to keep you in when we're looking for a way to deal with ourselves he wants us to still deal with and help others along the way and so he says yes I know they're hungry but we're gonna meet this need and you know the story tonight we're not gonna go through every depth of the story but the little boy right he came forward and he said I I've got these loaves in these fish I've got I've got my loaves and fish and he said here just five loaves two fishes and Jesus said bring them to me thank God for Christians who do what they can when they can and who say I don't have much but what I have is the Lord's I don't have a lot of time but I want to give time to worship the Lord and so here we see Jesus taking this little bit and multiplying it and needs being met and may that spirit prevail in our church and in our nation amongst God's people well we're looking at the day of Jesus just a day in the Ministry of Jesus the day begins with the personal loss of a dear friend the grieving of a fringe on the Baptist and what a tragic beginning and then the political thought that if John the Baptist had his life taken then perhaps I should get some time away but in the midst of that the pressure of the people coming upon him and do you see that many times pressures come in threes and fours and you're feeling that right now many of you are sensing the pressure of perhaps not knowing about your schedule concerned about maybe some financial things concerned about health things and many of us have just taken our calendars and just clean them off and and there's a part of that that is it's it's eerily welcomed and there's a part of that that is eerily frightening as well and and so you feel that pressure that sense that I'm not in my normal routine and it begins to build and it did for Jesus there was one final pressure that he felt and I want you to see this that was the pressure to prepare the disciples in other words in our vernacular who might say well he felt the pressure to continue the work and and there's something like that in all of us those of us sometimes they call some of us type-a and my wife tells me that I might be type-a so I don't know what type you are but I know that every one of us have routines and things that we want to get done and you may not be as driven as the next person but everyone has something that they feel is of a priority Jesus had priorities and I believe the greatest priority of Jesus besides Calvary was to prepare those disciples who all of them would further the gospel and turn the world upside down with the gospel of Jesus Christ and we see that in this passage notice in verse 22 straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship to go before him under the other side while he sent the multitudes away and we didn't sent the multitudes away he went up to a mountain a part to pray and when the evening was come he was there alone and noticed now the ship was in the midst of the sea it was being tossed to and fro finally he has time to pray he's going to go be with the disciples but first he gets this time to pray and I want you to picture this his heart was heavy Herod had killed John the Baptist he had expended himself though he wanted to get away earlier he had fed the five thousand now finally he's up on a mountain he's praying and as he's praying he looks down at his disciples who I might say the future of the church I might even say the church itself and there they were and what does he see their little ship being tossed to and fro the winds perhaps they were screaming they were fearful I mean right when he had that moment to process what was going on he had to go help someone else and maybe that's where you are tonight you know right right when you're trying to process then there's these other needs that come up and and and so Jesus is spending time in prayer he's he's taking time and I'm so thankful that we can take time to come to him as our great high priest and Jesus in this moment again not not taking time tonight to look at the entire passage but simply to understand that in the moment when the waters were troubled and the storm was upon his disciples he leaves his place again of comfort and fellowship with the father and he walks on the water by the way people joke about walking on the water I serve a savior who made the water who created this world and who can walk on the water and and I and I'm just simply telling you it doesn't matter where you are it doesn't matter if you feel separated from God he can walk to you he can get to you and and he did that because he loves his church and he's even now on this water at Galilee giving himself for the church ultimately would give himself on the cross of Calvary but he walks to them and he says to them in verse 27 be of good cheer it is I be not afraid now look at your Bibles there at verse 27 right come on push aside the other things that are in your home there that maybe are on your table whatever look at the central truth here I want you to see it Matthew 14:27 but straightway Jesus spake unto them saying be of good cheer it is I be not afraid all right let's read that one together shall we ready begin but straightway Jesus spake unto them saying be of good cheer it is I be not afraid now why don't you let Jesus minister to your heart right now through his word it is I be not afraid that's his message to us in the midst of all the pressures he is there and one songwriter said he was there all the time and waiting patiently for us to acknowledge his presence Peter of course became fearful and we often do and he fell into the water and we often fail but Jesus says to him in verse 31 oh thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt in other words the challenge to us when pressures mount is to keep our faith in God to keep looking to him while we're walking through the storms of life and so there you have it it's a 24-hour period in the life of Jesus in 24 hours of time Jesus lost one of his dearest friends Jesus had a threatening environment and potentially Herod coming after him he simply wanted some private time to process it and right in the midst of his time of Prayer he had to go and prepare his disciples let me just remind you that the Lord Jesus Christ experienced pressures and trials and is our example on how to be faithful through them I remember years ago I was playing basketball with my son Larry and and I was trying to teach him about basic things and shooting layups and different things and trying to teach him how to pick and roll and do other things that I never did that well myself and and I was just just expressing to him how to shoot rebound and in the middle of it I think Larry might have been an elementary school he looked up at me and he said ya dad he said it's easy for you up there but not for me down here and he was used about half my height at that time and I've thought of that so many times because that's not something that I can say to Jesus Christ I can't say to my Lord well it's easier for you up there but you don't know what it's like down here because he came down to us he does know what it's like down here and he does know what we're experiencing tonight and you can trust him in the midst of this time because he is marvelous and wonderful and he he can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities you know how we praise him for that and I want you to know through this time of Bible study that you can abound through these pressures as you follow the pattern of a day in the life of Jesus Christ maybe there's someone watching tonight that just simply needs to take a moment in prayer maybe make a decision to say I am going to take these compounding pressures and allow them to draw me closer to the Lord and I'm going to ask Jesus to help me to abound in these times of pressure I believe that his example is the perfect example and I'd like to encourage many of you to just pray Lord as you experience compounding pressure and yet abounded help me to abound and help me to hear what you said to Peter to keep my faith in you through this time and if you're watching right now and you've never put your faith in Jesus Christ to be your Savior then listen friend all of us are sinners we all fall short of the glory of God the wages of our sin is spiritual death and separation from God but the gift of God is eternal life Jesus Christ our Lord it's not eternal life through a church through baptism through a denomination and when a man or a woman a boy or a girl realizes that they are sinners and they turn to Jesus Christ exclusively and they confess their sin and they said Lord I know I'm a sinner I come to you now and I confess that I'm a sinner and I I believe that you died on the cross for me and rose again and that you were the son of God and so I ask you to forgive my sin and to be my Savior when someone calls upon the name of the Lord and asked them ask him to be their Savior the Bible said they shall be saved safe from the penalty of sin saved from eternal separation from God in Hell God loves you my friend and the greatest pressure in life is sin and the penalty of sin and and only Jesus can remove that and so Christian tonight would you pray dear lord help me to abound over this pressure that has built and friend if you do not know Christ you're not sure that you're a Christian then why don't you pray right now Lord Jesus I ask you to save me I ask you to come into my heart and be my Savior I'm trusting only in you now there's gonna be a number on this screen that you can text and I hope you will text I hope you'll text and tell me I made this decision tonight to trust God through this time of pressure I trusted Jesus Christ as my savior tonight that would be awesome or maybe to share another prayer request with me I hope you'll do that tonight but right now I want to pray with you as you make these decisions I want to pray that God will help you to trust him father I want to pray right now for those watching I pray God that you would help them to realize that they serve a Savior who overcame real pressure who felt real burdens and who was faithful so help us to follow your example and for those that have never accepted Jesus help them to turn to You Lord and to trust you as their personal Savior and father I pray that this would be the greatest night in their life the night when they felt the burden of sin taken off of their shoulders and the love of Christ come into their life bless each home each mother and father each child bless our widows watching bless those with concern and lift their burden is my prayer in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Lancaster Baptist Church

Views: 4,647

Rating: 4.9200001 out of 5

Keywords: preaching, sermon, Christian, God, Jesus, Lancaster Baptist Church, Lancaster Baptist, Pastor Paul Chappell, Paul Chappell, pressure, abound, Matthew 14

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Length: 33min 45sec (2025 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 25 2020