Pressure Points | Pastor Steven Furtick

I want to continue to look at something from Paul's life this week and I want to talk to you for a few moments about pressure points this message is only if you've been experiencing some stress or maybe a considerable amount of uncertainty about some things or life has seemed a little too much for you that's the only people that's going to bless today so if you need to leave now because that's not applicable to you feel free but the rest of us we're going to go over to second Corinthians chapter 4 I think I want to do verse 5 yeah I think I gave you verse 5 I was trying to decide how much to read you understand that's the issue every week is also good and I want to eat it all but you know I know you can only digest so much and so I want to talk about pressure points but let's kind of get into it here from 2nd Corinthians 4 or 5 where Paul is talking to a church that he has Authority and responsibility for he says for what we preach is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your servants for Jesus is safe for God who said let the light shine out of Darkness made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ but we have this treasure in Jars of Clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us we are hard pressed on every side but not crushed perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not abandoned touch somebody say I'm not alone I'm never alone so if you want to roll up on me you need to know before you start anything I got angels Oh [Music] now me I've got a great guy down beeps get back to the scripture verdict where was I yet not abandoned not abandoned struck down but not destroyed we always carry around in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body good on to verse 16 therefore we do not lose heart though outwardly we are wasting away yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all I can tell we're going to have church today because you won't even let me read my scripture look how excited you are about the glory of God being revealed in your life so last verse I'm going to read for now so we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal and you kind of get a different picture here of Paulding you got last week because last week we were hearing Luke who wrote the book of Acts described what Paul did but this is not someone describing what Paul did this is Paul describing how he felt and the two are really different the two are really different because sometimes someone can make something look so easy that you assume that it is make it look so effortless Holly makes parenting look so effortless and then every once in a while she leaves them with me for 35 minutes so I can remember how much I need her in my life but she just does make it just makes it look easy touch somebody say you make it look too easy sometimes I think you don't even need faith because you just got it and that makes me feel bad about myself because I look at you and it looks easy that's why I hate working out with but makes it look easy then I get under that same weight and and he got 12 of them and I'm on number two crushing my sternum but um since you asked me for some parenting advice something some parenting advice actually is kind of life advice I don't think I ever told you Holly what Eric Farrell told me Eric Farrell is pastor in Virginia and he so so I have I have a lot of ministry advice by the way in my mind because I've been preparing for ministry since I was young because I thought this is what I was supposed to do so I took a lot of opportunity to the young age to ask people hey tell me one piece of advice know if there's only one thing you could tell me and that I saw I was kind of trying to get ready for it and prepare for the pressure of ministry and not nothing can really prepare you for it but you know maybe somebody can tell you something that you can hold on to well Eric Farrell um was kind enough he invited me into his church and this was right around the time that elevation church was starting Elisha was a baby and I asked him what do I need to know to make it he's been in the same church for thirty years I thought he could probably give me a little bit of insight on how to make it for the long term which is the goal he goes uh he needs a real fast talker real fast talker guy he goes pressure management it's all pressure management got to manage the pressure you know manage the pressure you go off and you know run your life manage pressure the immense pressure and said how how do you manage said pressure because he was play and I thought I heard him wrong because I heard play but I thought sure he probably said pray that's what we tell you to do you know just pray about everything makes everything better when you pray and when I play sometimes your mind is so scrambled that you can't even figure out what to pray when I'm talk about that just pray but he didn't say pray he said play he said play you got to play he said especially with your kids he said when your kids get a little older when you get home he said this is what saved my life that's what kept me from having an affair that's what kept me from running off shooting one of the Deacons he said he said everyday when I got home no matter how bad the day had been I just got down on that floor and played with my kids he says so do that he said when you don't feel like it do it in five minutes until you feel like you and and I took his advice I have I play with my kids I think that's really my only hobby in life is torture I mean playing with say that I love but the most recent game that I made up i'ma do this with with you JT so I'm just just sit there I play games with them that involved pressure and and and Holly Holly has to leave the room because these games can get aggressive and four different parts of their body it all started with the calf muscle and this is and now I'm going to tell you the names of these things and I won't spend long because I know you came to hear Bible study but just so you can respect my creative parenting it started off with this move right there where I squeeze that calf now now Abby's half muscle looking quite like yours I squeezed that thing so tight that's called and I don't know why we call it there's something to remember I started but it's called the Alabama cream sha i don't know how alabama cream shawn then me and the boys were going to Liberty University so that's in Lynchburg Virginia so we been at the Lynchburg like squeeze by the way if you ever think about sitting in the front row at Valentines you need to know this is like the splash zone at SeaWorld and you're going to participate if you come up here you fill up pressure feels good doesn't it we got the Pennsylvania Polk a Pittsburgh pinch well there's some other ones I'm not going to do not going to do the Boston but [Applause] Chicago's shoulder right there right just kind of good so here's what grandma always will do before I get started you go hit go wait a minute what level are you going to do this on what level what level of pressure cuz I need to know before I submit myself hey you ever want to ask God before I do this before I I trust you on this what level of pressure is it going to involve and the truth be told uh some of you would have known the level of pressure that came along with parenting you would have stay celibate because hey you prayed for the baby but along with the baby came the pressure write this down with privilege comes pressure and sometimes I see people who want certain privileges but don't welcome the pressure that comes with the privilege when we see Paul in second Corinthians we are getting a picture of a minister and a man who is at that bad point have you ever been at that point of pressure where it feels like something is unraveling on the inside of you I don't necessarily mean it's a clinical breakdown but but Paul is under pressure he says from every side let's read it again in verse eight because I think it describes something that maybe you've experienced maybe not on Paul's level because there's levels to it but one thing that I have learned is that pressure is relative so when a 16 year old gets their heart broken they don't have the wisdom of experience to know that there will be others and so it really does feel like they want to die and a lot of times you minimize other people's misery because you have graduated beyond that season but if you could find the compassion to remember there was a time when you to listen to Milli Vanilli blame it on the rain 17 times oh just me [Applause] when Melissa Heydrich broke up with you oh just me there was a time when when the pressure felt so great Paul said we are hard pressed on every side and that means it was all of the areas at once all at once and I believe that the times in our life when we are able to pick our battles and and focus our concentration generally most of us are able to stand up under pressure if it is coming from one direction it's when I can't find any relief on any side sometimes when I preach I'll be preaching to one side and-and-and-and and then I'll turn to another side and then I'll turn to another side to see is this helping anybody and if I can't find any love in the middle on the right on the left sometimes I just turn around and look at LJ because I pay him to look at me but Paul says it was coming at us from every side and I understand what this means for Paul because last week we were talking about Paul on an island called Malta a little later in his ministry and he there is a prisoner and he makes it through a shipwreck and Luke gives us a picture of Paul that is kind of a heroic portrait because Luke respected Paul so much and he talks about how Paul got up and gave a motivational speech to the other other prisoners about courage and faith in God no matter the circumstance and how Paul prayed and had a vision and then relayed that vision to the people to inspire their faith because sometimes somebody is waiting on you to encourage them to put courage in them that they don't have right now and so Paul did that and then when Paul got to the shore he gets bit by a snake remember did anybody listen to the message and watch how cool and calm and collected Paul was on the shore of Malta the snake didn't even seem to bother him he didn't rebuke the snake he didn't cry out to God he didn't in the name of Jesus plead the blood of Christ the lamb he just shook it off so cool don't admire people who are like that by the way don't you hate people who are like that by the way just people who never get rattled just people who nothing bothers them just people who shake stuff off and Lucas telling us man it was amazing I was there Paul just shook the snake off into the fire it was amazing and they thought he was going to die and he didn't die and he just stood there and they thought he was going to swell up but even say anything and he just stood there and he went the publius his house and he started healing everybody and his amazing and then plot went to Rome and he really lived in a rented house for two years and impulses way ma'am women had it it wasn't that easy on the inside because what you saw was what I did but you did not see the doubts that I had while I was doing it you make it look so easy sometimes that nobody even knows that you need to be encouraged cuz you just you just do that you just do it you just pay the bills you just smile at people you just dress well you just walk strong and walk tall and walk brown but on the inside Paul said I was so pressured I couldn't find relief on the right on the left in the middle I looked up I look down I looked all around I couldn't find a companion I couldn't find a helper but I didn't die at the pressure point pressured but not crushed so they have sayings that they put out sayings that they put out to encourage you under pressure and we say we say that pressure makes diamonds you ever heard that pressure makes them raise your hand if your pressure makes diamonds pressure does make diamonds but it also makes dumb decisions alone for real pressure does make diamonds but it also makes divorces pressure does make diamonds but it also can leave you the proud owner of the timeshare so some some of the things you do under pressure pressure no I don't think um I don't think God wants to prevent pressure in our lives though I think let's read it again I think there's a point to the pressure and maybe today you have come to that point Paul describes it he he said in verse 10 we carry around in our body the death of Jesus it means that I feel like I'm dying inside but that's the kind of pressure that Paul makes Shaker Paul shipwreck survivor Paul he says earlier in his ministry he says there was so much pressure I thought I was dying and and he says that I was hard pressed on every side but not crushed now I always heard people shout about that verse but realize that it's not automatic you know when I read that verse some people are like yeah hard press but not crushed but that verse suggests that pressure can crush you oh yeah I've met so many people that let the pressure I'm thinking of uh I got I had a friend whose family had a recycling plant and and and you'd see the pants just crushed into these cubes I have seen people crushed into cubes and melted into a little bit of nothing and sent away and their dreams deferred and their hope crushed because of pressure so before you shall I'm pressed but not crushed realize that if you don't know what to do with the pressure it will crush you if you don't know what to do with the snake poison will kill you I'm pressed Paul said but I'm not crushed I'm perplexed that's mental pressure but not in despair I'm persecuted best pressure from other people but not abandoned I'm struck down but not destroyed now I see a contrast it is the contrast between what is pushing on Paul and what is pushing in Paul Caprice a little bit i'ma help you today because your pressure is trying to point to something and so many times in my life listen i'ma help you so many times in my life the reason that I was under pressure is because I was full of pride he said we have this power this treasure in earthen vessels or vessels of clay an ordinary vessel and it's an extraordinary power and so I'm an ordinary person with an extraordinary promise of the presence of God but sometimes I get confused and I forget then I'm just deprived I'm not the power and sometimes I get so burdened because I put the weight of the world on my shoulders and carry a cross that I'm not strong enough to carry that has already been carried for me so I must oppressor sometimes because I'm full of pride and sometimes not all the time pressure comes into your life not because of what you're handling but because of how you're handling it you've forgotten your source and you lose your strength and pressure pressure sometimes points to pride in your life thank you so much God gave it to me I can't preach anything God doesn't get to me and God gave this to me and you know and I think that way is so much easier to preach I'm a healthy i'ma help you I'm gonna help you today if I don't help if I help three people email me email me three people at elevation Church or three people that I hope today if you're one of the three is convenien mothers three people at elevation church stud or I'm how three people today who are under pressure because when pressure comes some of us begin to perform to a standard that we have projected that isn't even true to our purpose I saw it like this I can't say it again mom I don't even know what I said I hope you wrote it down my mom said say it again I can't I don't know what I said I just came out maybe I could illustrate you know I've been preaching a lot in the last year about the gap I've been preaching this message really all over the all over the country all over the world I guess about the gap and it's the gap between where I am and where I want to be where I am and where I used to be and I've kind of been defining it I think I'm going to keep preaching it because it continues to speak to me that there are two gaps in my life one is for my gratitude and one is for my growth got it one is how far I've come look back makes me grateful can't stay there too long though because I got to grow where I died but this week I was seeing the different gap in my mind and it's the pressure gap it's the pressure gap again I'm not saying that all pressure is bad but there is a type of pressure that is rooted in pride and manifest in performance and this is it this is the gap between who I think I need to be and who I believe I really am stay right there with me because when you think you need to be something that you secretly believe you are not the pressure is crushing when you secretly believe that you need to have an ability that you need to have a strength up that when you when you secretly think this is what I do all the time okay therapy session bill me Holly says I do it she says that I got it from my dad and he's not here anymore Segen defend himself so we talked about this genetic stuff all the time but my mom is perfect she's right over there in the front row she says she Holly says you got to quit drawing thought bubbles on other people she says you project expectations on people that they don't even have of you and you disappoint imaginary expectations that don't even really exist can you believe my wife would talk to me like this she didn't read that verse about submit woman that Bible verse but she's right she's right I do it all the time and then guess what I do because of the pressure I start blowing up and exploding at people with frustrations because of rejection of expectations they didn't even have so now I'm Matt on the inside and I'm walking around with all this combustible pressure what do you want from me and people like nothing man one time um I was getting up to preach and when actually was when the podium comes up we have some traditions here at elevation Church that people come my little pulpit comes out like right at a certain moment during a certain song it's just little things we do because it has to get out here sometime so we just put it out there right there and they were carrying the pulpit out and I felt this weird pressure to perform and God spoke to me when you were 16 did I call you to be a performer and and the moment I realized that I was projecting an expectation that was not from the heart of God the pressure left the building and I was free to preach whatever's right when that pulpit was coming out and they were doing the last song and Chris was hitting the high note and it was a pressure point I wonder what it is for you the Alabama cream Shaw the buffalo bicep I didn't show you that one pressure points those those points those those those things and I'm asking the question today could it be that your pressure is trying to point you to a higher power the enemy will always point to what you don't have what you can't be what you can't do but when he does point back when pressure points point back I want you to point at your neighbors face put your finger right in front of their nose and tell them you need this message tell them point back point back I see Paul in second Corinthians defending himself against the Judaizers because they are questioning his credentials for ministry and they're pointing their finger in his face who do you think you are preaching that circumcision is of no avail and it is a new creation in Christ accounts I see a church pointing their finger in the face of Paul but what's my point Paul does when they're pointing their finger you know those you know those things those those points you know those those things the devil use this to make you feel smaller than and less than and not enough for and never enough for and never going to be and you never work and your mama wasn't and your daddy wasn't and you can't be either for winning points point back I have this presence earthen vessels that the excellency of the power might be proven to be from God and not from me that's how you turn pressured into power pressured into power press sir when is somebody say pressure into power pressure into power so Paul says we were pressed but not crushed maybe he has in mind here the garden of gethsemane you know the place where the Savior knelt down all alone but not abandoned struck down but not destroyed headed to the cross but the joy set before him enabled him to endure it the Bible says he knelt down and prayed he prayed so hard that he started sweating drops that were like blood he prayed so long that his capillaries might have burst he prayed so long with nobody around to relieve the pressure but as he sweat came forth from the mouth of the Living eternal Word of God nevertheless not my will but yours be done what happened he turned pressure into power and he did it in a place called Gethsemane Gethsemane means all oppressed and the world's greatest power came from the Savior's greatest pressure and whatever you're going through today I came with an announcement Paul said we have this treasure [Applause] but you don't even know what you have until you're under pressure pressure points pressure points pressure comes to call you out and to know do you really trust the devil got up in God's face and says let me put some pressure on Jobe and let's see what's really in him because you claim to be an orange but you might be a lemon and I won't know till I squeeze you you might just be painted a certain color let me find out what's inside a pressure pressure proves whether you really believe the promise so I wanna read the scripture again pressure points Paul has reached that point have you ever been at that point it is Paul the only one are you more spiritual than Paul where nothing ever pressured you to the point where you wondered would you make so Paul says the pressure came for seven to show to reveal to point out that this power is all surpassing power this great power that raised Christ from the grave can only be proven after the pressure is applied so the pressure shows me that it's not about me you know how they say God will never put more on you than you can bear that's not true that is a Bible verse but it's out of context it's talking about temptation it's talking about how God is not the author of evil okay so but against it all that on a bumper sticker so they just put God won't put on any more on you than you can bear something on Pinterest but that's not what the verse means God will most certainly put more on you than you can bear so you will realize that you were not meant to bear it so you can access the supply that was yours all along you've been under pressure good the pressure came to show you where your power came from no pressure no pressure no pressure if you're not under pressure you're only going to have the power that you have but the pressure came to show you power and provision that you could not have accessed any other way coming there get some out of this make some noise he says therefore verse 16 because we know that pressure produces power because we know that what is coming acne is not greater than what lives within me because we know that somebody say I already know I already pressed pre sure because I am free sure God said you gotta fight pressure with priests or you got do you've got to know some things so deeply in your therefore we do not lose heart though outwardly it doesn't look very good we are wasting away I'm not crushed yet inwardly I got something for the inside greater than whatever surrounds me on the outside we are being renewed day by day for our light and momentary pressure troubles trials teenagers bill aches pains I'm not going to lie some people here under her in the horrendous pressure I'm not minimizing it I'm just saying that that a certainty of what I'm about to share with you next that that poll this is what Paul knew that he could only learn under pressure he said I've learned because of what I've been through and I've learned because of what has God has done for me I have learned that my light and momentary troubles are achieving for me an eternal glory [Applause] so the pressure that I'm under right now is pointing to a glory that is going to be so much greater how many believe the glory that is on the other side is going to be so much greater what God is doing through my life in this season of pressure I'm going to be stronger I'm going to be stable I'm gonna be ready next time I know how to take it off next time I'll know how to walk right through it next time I'll know how to spend the night in the fiery furnace and come out without the smell of smoke on my clothes who is this for you've been under pressure to progress' been working through your hands but God says I'm putting a clause with a joint that before endure the cross despising is sad glory of the Lord is released and the power of God is released through the pressure I'm telling you right now I know what it feels like to feel like there's no way out I know what it feels like to feel like there's no way of escape but when you can't find the way out that's when God makes the way in he's coming in to spend the night with you he's right there with you in the pressure I'm preaching to somebody and I'm pointing toward glory I'm pointing to a glory the enemy will point toward your shame your failure your weakness Paul said I'm pointing to glory I'm pointing to glory come on let's practice when you get under pressure that's weak what you're going to do what you're going to do we have this treasure in earthen vessels [Music] C&S what the promise of God and the presence of God does in my life it does what they learned how to do to the airplane because if they didn't learn how to pressurize the cabin of the airplane we couldn't make it to 30,000 feet because our bodies were designed to breathe at sea level but our minds conceived something that could fly in an atmosphere that we could not retain consciousness in and that's why the cabin had to be pressurized why I come to the Word of God is to pressurize my spirit with the promises of God because I have this treasure in earthen vessels and the pressure is too great for me and my humanity cannot bear the weight of the glory of God because I'm made of dust and to the dust I will return and I am weak and I am poor and I am broken and without him I can do nothing but when I get my spirit pressurized touch somebody sound pressurized when I get into the presence of God and I am reminded that these light and momentary afflictions are not worthy to be compared with the cockpit I can go higher and Paul said I made it through it because I got a bump lift your hands in the presence of the Lord on your feet now for everybody who's under pressure this message came to you just at this time to reveal to you what the pressure is for to show that this all surpassing power power the raised Christ from the dead power this book the world into existence power that makes winds and waves still with one word this all surpassing power is from God and not from us are you at the point where you realize that you can't carry the weight of your calling are you at the point where you realize that you don't have the wisdom you need to guide your life by your own intuition and decisions have you come to that point or on the right and on the left to the north and to the south all you see is pressure all around you the word of the Lord this day is that what is within you is greater than what's around you and God brought you into his presence this day to pressurize your resolve with the promises of God lift your hands to heaven see that's how we that's how we point back when the enemy is pointing at everything that I'm not I lift my hands to point to all that God is come on in this place begin to clap your hands and praise God raise points back raise points back raise points back when you give him the praise he gives you his peace braise points back come on give him the pray if you know the power power of God is operative in your situation pressure points father today I want to pray very specifically for someone who has never surrendered their life to you someone who has never made the decision to give you complete control someone who has been carrying the weight and the shame of their sin and never received your grace heads bowed eyes closed spear to the Lord is in this place and I want to pray a prayer right now for those who are far away from God in your heart today the truth of the matter is he's never far from you he's never far from you and his presence is in this place and he longs to live inside of you and he longs to roll away the burden that you've been carrying all that is required for you to access this grace and forgiveness and new beginning is faith that's it scripture says that you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved so when I give you that opportunity right now just I've been living my life on my own terms I've been carrying the weight of my life on my own and right now I want to invite God to be the center of my life and receive the mercy of Jesus Christ I want to pray with you we're going to pray as a church family out loud for the benefit of those who are coming to God at all of our campuses let's pray out loud Heavenly Father I come to you a sinner in need of a savior and today I confess that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Lord I believe he died to forgive my sin and rose again to give me life I received this new life come into my heart make me new this is my new beginning head still bowed eyes still closed if you just pray that on the count of three shoot your hand up in the air one two three I want to celebrate with you I see you man see you guys on every location god bless you god bless you come on let's celebrate Church put those hands together get awesome brace for what he's doing in this place for his great great for it talks of love for his great great for is awesome love come on please self-esteem let's celebrate the presence of God [Music]

Channel: Elevation Church

Views: 571,705

Rating: 4.8534336 out of 5

Keywords: Elevation Church, Pastor Steven Furtick, Pressure Points, Pressure, How to handle pressure, Privilege, Pressure relief, Faith, Pride, Power, Strength, Blessing, Stress relief, Performance, Gratitude, Growth, Church, Online, breaking point

Id: LwNJZ0XQcsk

Length: 43min 6sec (2586 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 31 2017