The Lesson of The Perceived Loss | Pastor Hart Ramsey

[Music] we're in a series of lessons where we're dealing with the issue of taking the air and this is the last installment of this lesson and today I decided to come back to the sanctuary of NCC just to preach this from the pulpit that I love so much that I've been preaching in for some years I want to share this lesson on on are taking the ill and of course the ill here is a loss taking a loss and it seems like that's all many of us have been doing later on I mean in this season of life is taking losses but there's a part of taking a loss that we've been trying to emphasize for the past few weeks and it's the lesson of the loss of the perceived loss taking the lesson and so I want to define for you or or later on what what a lesson is because we talked about our lessons learned a lot and I don't think many of us understand what a lesson is in Matthew chapter 13 verse 34 the Bible says all these things speak Jesus unto the multitude in parables and without a parable spake he not unto them in in modern translation whatever Jesus spoke to people he talked to them from parables a parable is an analogies of a story that's used to encourage or to introduce new perspective into people's lives it's a simple narrative I'm an illustrator a powerful lesson um Jesus didn't only come to give us life but he also came to teach us how to live so he used this thing that I call parabolic form using the things that people understood to teach him about things that they didn't understand this was his instructional tool of choice and so on his main focus was to help people learn the lesson of the story lessons are all around us if we if we pay close attention their lessons to be learned all the time a lesson can be defined as many things but primarily our lesson is your takeaway from a moment or season of instruction or a form of life experience I want to say it again a lesson is your takeaway from a moment or season of instruction or from a life experience something that you've gone something that you've witness and from it you take away a lesson it is a it's a tragic thing to go through a life experience or to go through a failing experience or take a loss and not get the lesson to sit through a class or to go through ordeal and not walk away with something that you learned is tragic and so lessons come in many varieties but I want today to focus on at least three of them three of them stand out to me the most and they are people lessons pain lessons and pressure lessons people lessons pain lessons and pressure lessons we have all learned people lessons if you are live today if you've lived for any length of time you've been through a people lesson our people of vessels in the Bible second Corinthians four and seven I'll point out Paul says given King James you don't mind in the King James it says um but we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and out of us Paul talked about he said whenever we came into a situation he said we brought with us a treasure and we carried it within ourselves so people are vessels that means that we all carry something within or something of value something of importance and because of that what is now because we always carry something within us we never come into a situation empty whenever we come into a situation when people come into your life they always bring something with them something emotional something mental something spiritual significance comes into the relationship when another person comes in the thing though that thing is not always beneficial it can be either beneficial it could be detrimental to the connection many times our lives shift when a new person comes in or it was shift and a person walks out because the person is just not a person they are what the Bible calls a vessel they carry something who hasn't been in a relationship but someone they consider to be one of the biggest lessons of their life a 2-legged affliction a person could be or they could come into your life they could be like a walking arm world of weather systems they could get a tornado or a hurricane I mean they just come in to tear stuff up so we've all been through what I call people every one of us has a people lesson story that we could tell the thing is though just like people could come into our lives and be lessons learned to us we've also been lessons learned to other people think about it we too have been villains in other people's stories I mean for whatever reason we weren't wise we were immature but we have been villains ourselves in other people's stories not only have we learned people lessons in our life but many of us have also learned pain lessons as well we've all gone through painful experiences that taught us invaluable lessons about life or we refer to them in rest in retrospect as growing pains how many of us have had to deal with the pain of failure the pain of being misunderstood we've been hurt by our poor investments or squandered opportunities we've had to experience the pain of betrayal of rejection of deep-rooted or the deep-rooted pain of being constantly ignored or overlooked if you've lived long enough you've been through the pain of broken relationship the pain of being ashamed or publicly humiliated um you really experience many of us still in this place where you experience the pain of loneliness we've all had our share of pain the way we respond to emotional pain though it determines how we're gonna walk into our future pain is defining it always defines us after pain touches your life you're never gonna be the same it was going to have an effect on you we say it's gonna make you bitter or better but I like to see it like this um after pain touches your life you either become a hater or healer you other you either be moved with empathy and compassion or you'll be in unforgiveness and hurt and you would become the very thing that you hate it's up to you to determine how pain affects your life is all about who you want to be who the future you is going to be in nature there's a precious stone of gem stone called the pearl and our most precious stones are made of minerals that means they're made of a compression or combination of earth minerals or material but there's one stone this pearl that is considered a gemstone but it's not made of minerals like other stones pearls are created actually in the belly of an irritated oyster in response to pain I want to say that again pearls are created in the belly of an irritated oyster in response to pain a grain of sand somehow slips into the shell into the oyster secure shell and it causes an irritation that's so disruptive that it demands attention so imagine that the oyster is at the bottom of the water and and or maybe a grain of sand or or some some piece of foreign material slips in and immediately it irritates the internal part of the of the oyster and it responds to the pain of it in in response to this painful intrusion the oyster secretes a substance is called nacre in a CRE sneaker it's known to many of us as mother pearl and it uses this material to isolate the irritant out of this positive healing response of the oyster a precious pearl is formed your response to pain will determine the value of what you produce in the earth I want to say that again your response to pain will determine the value of what you produce in the earth because the oyster chose to respond positively to pain what happened is out of it comes our valuable gemstone or precious stone what you produce in your pain will be precious um the natural process of transforming pain into pearls from oyster is one to six years in freshwater and five to twenty years in saltwater so what that says is my positive response to pain may not always get immediate results but in the long run it will affect my future the oyster begins the secretion of this nacre and it continually secretes the snake of this mother pearl and it wraps itself around the irritant and it protects a cell from the irritant by by giving it something and when it does that it produces something as valuable there also was called man the pearls or is a man-made process where where humans will open or she'll just lightly and slip an irritant intentionally into the oyster to trigger or the oysters or natural pain response it wants than the oyster to respond to pain but its own purpose which is kind of strange to me the result of this or process is called a cultured pearl it's a less valuable pearl but serpro nonetheless pain is intentionally induced to trigger a specific response for the oyster beware of people who come into your life and the only purpose is to bait you into some type of emotional response so they could they could inflict pain on you and get you to respond to them the problem with that is nothing productive comes out of that when I what I'm easily baited especially with all this going on in the world right now I have to be careful not to be baited into these responses that have no long-term effect something happens in the news some injustice takes place and we all take the social media and we just let out always pain but then as days pass by we just go back to our regular life and nothing changes that is not the proper way to respond to pain in the will of God listen to this in the will of God every time you experience pain something productive should come from it when the Bible says cast not your pearl before swine the illusion is to the caution or the cautious posture we should take when sharing holy things things that were birth in pain with other people be careful not just to talk if something was birth in your life or you gained something for your pain be careful who you shared with or we expose it to because the Bible says that they will see the value in it people lessons and pain lessons are very common we hear about them all the time conversations I had every day about about how a personal hurt me or the pain I went through but what we don't hear about very often are conversations about pressure people don't talk about pressure what does pressure teach us in the videos that you saw before I came to preach I had some friends of mine to come on a very prominent men and I wanted them to share with you on what pressure did to them how they experienced pressure what it was like I would affected them their lessons they learn from it and I did it for a reason going back to what I said in the beginning I wanted I wanted you to hear the story of their life because lessons can be learned from stories tall that is called parabolic form I hear I look at a person I know I see their story I hear from their heart when they went through and from that I could learn what God wants me to learn from them when they share what they share with us rather is valuable because pressure is not something as I said we talked about the stress of having forceful demands placed on you or always being in demand demand to others can sometimes be so overwhelming not everyone has unlimited game I want to rephrase that no one has unlimited capacity and no one has unlimited capability what that means is my resources or can't be used all the time for everyone the way I respond to pressure will determine or not whether I live a productive life and this is important because as we go and face the days of theirs ahead I believe that whatever God is is seeking to produce in our life or to pull out of our lives will come from the constant pressure we've been under for the last several months and maybe for the better part of this year that's left to come capacity speaks of what you can handle and capability speaks of what you can do so when we talk about your capacity we were talking about what you can handle what you hold remember I said the people of vessels when we come into a situation we bring a certain arm content with us but the thing you need to understand is but capacity is limited and many times we're asking people to give to us something that they don't have simply because that their present capacity can't carry it you're asking for love for a person and what they actually they actually give you the all the love they got if we need more love them then their capacity needs to be expanded and many times when God is expanding capacity or increasing our capability what he does is he puts us under pressure he allows pressure to come to our lives into our lives like everything else pressure serves a purpose and I want to show you today on to some degree how pressure serves a purpose I want to show you this pressure is a force it is designed to either persuade you or to push you sometimes it pulls you in proverbs 24 and 10 the arm the writer I believe in this case is Solomon he's writing he says if you faint in the day of adversity your strength is small if you faint in the day of adversity your strength is small I believe it's maybe is in the passion translation or some other translation it actually says it in an interesting way it says if you faint under if you faint when you're under pressure you have need of courage if you faint when you're under pressure so this scripture in Proverbs 2410 I'm speaking of the day of adversity is speaking about pressure in the Bible in the in the New Testament there the word ellipsis th Li pas iist ellipsis is a word that's often translated adversity or tribulation but but when you when you search the word out of study the word simply means pressure it has what it says it says that God uses pressure in the life of the believer to get a result he's looking for and I want to show you how this are this works there is positive pressure and there's negative pressure but pressure can come into our lives as a strong as strong rather as a threat as subtle as a suggestion or it can be a positive influence that God uses to shape you or it could be negative negative ambition that Satan wants to use to ruin you pressure can come watch it now pressure can come into your life from different directions however pressure manifests it always involves a feeling of being either pressed compressed or oppressed pressed compressed or oppressed from the feeling of being pressed means and being squeezed by my circumstances the feeling of being compressed means I'm being and given limited options the feeling of being oppressed means I'm being forced into a disadvantage now I'll be honest with you there's so much I want to say the day time will not permit for me to go into the current events that are happening but I want to say this these three types of pressure can either have a negative connotation or they can be positive in effect and it's up to the way we respond to them the way we see them I may talk about that later on there are two types or two basic types of pressure there's external pressure and there's internal pressure what it means is that sometimes internally I put pressure on myself based on the way I think or perceive a situation other times the pressure comes into my life from external sources sometimes it's active and sometimes it's passive active meaning that someone is really actually trying to pressure me into something and passive mean they're not really trying to but based on the way I see the world I'm receiving external pressure from them this is important to understand external pressure as I said it's placed on me by others or by the circumstances I'm in internal pressure is placed on me when I when I'm not yet comfortable with my place all the of the pace of my process I become very very uneasy and burdened down with what I'm going through I want to walk you through now um the different varieties of pressure I said there are two types of pressure two basic types but then it comes of basic varieties I will give you about ten of them number one is the pressure of expectation that's what I'm trying to measure up to others other people's idea of Who I am when I put up allow myself to be in a situation where people's expectation begins to drive my life I come under pressure the second one is the pressure to perform performance pressure is usually skill related is the reps it directly relates to my job it affects my job security and it leaves often to my insecurities when I feel the pressure to perform and don't believe that I'm able to live up to it I put myself under enormous pressure number three is the pressure of everyday responsibilities um work I have to get done I people make me have to take care of you maybe a caregiver on bills that have to be paid roles that I have to play in other people's lives of things that I'm uncomfortable I'm accountable for these are everyday responsibilities pressures and these pressures right here very real we call them stresses because really the word pressure and stress isn't enough they're synonymous terms number four is the pressure of peer acceptance in Jonathan my girls song pressure he's talking about about peer pressure to be what he's not to live like the world when he's actually born of Christ feeling the need to make major adjustments or to become something you're uncomfortable with just to be liked or accepted by others that is the definition of peer pressure number five or the fever arity that i've listed of of pressure is the pressure to please others the fear of disappointing those you love or you feel indebted in some way to talk arm to make a person or happy or you take the burden of making another person happy that is the pressure to please others or I missed one the pressure to stand out I want to deal with that one the pressure to stand out to be noticed by people you believe unnecessary to your future there are times when when you you want to you know room and is crowded and you feel invisible and you feel a pressure to stand out and and to be to be noticed that pressure can be so difficult to deal with because you can go from place to place caring as a vessel a wonderful gift and God is hiding you in plain sight and you put pressure on yourself to stand up and be noticed what God is actually hiding you this also there's also the pressure or to please others the fear of disappointing those that you feel indebted to in some way the pressure also number seven the pressure to be who others want you to be you play roles in other people's lives that you may not necessarily necessarily be comfortable with a wired for then there's the pressure to stay on a path that no longer serves who you're becoming this is number eight the pressure to stay in a path that no longer serves who you are or who you're becoming let me explain it to you this kind of pressure is the pressure that you feel after you introduce yourself to others as one thing and then as God deals with their life you become something else this kind of pressure can also come when you introduce others to your false self be careful how you introduce to other yourself to others because that's the way or the person they're gonna expect you to be if you introduce yourself to her as as the man that has money for everything and when she comes to you asking for money every time you can't be mad at her because that's the way you introduce yourself the pressure to stay on a path that's not comfortable for you it's not who you are anymore it's an enormous pressure also we put ourselves number nine it's the pressure to be who you should be you desire to please God but you're attempting to do it in your own strength this steals your joy and drains your energy this type of pressure is a pressure that God never intended for us god never intended for us to come to Jesus and become who was supposed to be in our own strength and then number ten is the pressure we put on ourselves to please God the pressure we put on ourselves to please God living with the notion that God only loved me when I'm not struggling listen to me beloved it's not the will of God for you to be under pressure to please God your relationship with God should be one of the one of them the least burdensome relationships you have understanding that God has already accepted you in a Belov he's already adopted you into his family you're already you're already one of his in his eyes the Bible says you're perfect that thus now he starts you in the process of perfecting I want you to understand something until God considers you perfect in his eyes he does not start the perfecting process the perfecting processes only started in the lives of people watch is not where the work is finished in the heavens in the invisible realm and not God in the earth rip is bringing you up to the speed or up to the standard that he's already seen you in that's just one to grow on okay now much of the pressure in our lives comes from our misunderstanding of God and how God sees us and what he expects of us it is impossible to enjoy life it is impossible to please God it is impossible to progress in your purpose in life if use if you don't know how to handle pressure when pressure comes into your life you need to have a strategy for handling it proverbs 24 and 10 it tells us that the issue when we're under pressure isn't the situation it's not the pressure situation it's not it's not the person it's not so much the event that's causing the dysfunction it's sensing in the King James Version it says basically your strength is small it basically refers to your strength this is when pressure comes and it causes you to falter or to fail it says it's actually a direct indictment on your strength you're not as strong as you thought you were and pressure is used literally to reveal us to ourselves pressure reveals a lot about us who we are our core who always become as a result of what we've gone through you never know how strong you are until strength is your only option everyone responds differently to the squeezings of life summer rise to the challenge and others feel suffocated by it others tend to break down on the pressure at some point every one of us will face this pressurized season of life rushes I never even thought none of us even thought that in 2020 we'll be in such a pressurized situation it's not just a pandemic that that's lurking outside then then then then there's are the events the current events that are in the air right now everything that's happening in our nation in the world the pressure of the situation it can literally break you if you don't respond to it properly we're all were all having to go to this don't don't pressurise seasons of life whatever's in you whoever you are will be severely tested that's why the worth ellipsis is called tribulation three times the trouble that's really what it means God has equipped us to deal with pressure he has and he's preparing you every day for years he's been preparing you every day for years to deal with the pressure finishing right now um don't think for a moment that God didn't see this coming he did and everything that you've gone through over the last five to ten years have been preparing us for this moment that we're in right now how has God been preparing us believe it or not how do you prepare a person for pressure by putting them in pressure God has been using small pressurized situations allowing you to go through stressful and difficult times to prepare for this time the only way to learn to handle seasons of pressure is to train for them in pressurized situations I want to talk to you now from this last point of what pressure produces in our lives the same way that pearls are created in response to an oysters pain another precious gemstone that diamond is created in response to pressure diamonds are formed from graphite stone deep in the Earth's or core through a combination of two things overwhelming heat and unbelievable pressure as a matter of fact a diamond or while it's still a graphite stone like a piece of coal it is it has to withstand temperatures between 1600 and 2300 degrees Fahrenheit and the pressure that it has to go through is unbelievable over seven hundred and twenty thousand pounds per square inch now I know that you can't I'll probably relate to that so let me give you some comparisons the average temperature in earth is 58 point three degrees that's normal the average temperature fifty eight point three degrees the diamond has to in order as a carbon a piece of carbon in order to become a diamond has to go through 1600 to 2300 degrees Fahrenheit also the average atmospheric pressure in the earth is only fourteen point seven pounds per square inch again that this carbon this piece of coal has to go through or has to endure or withstand 720 pounds per square inch of pressure it's the pressure and the heat that transforms carbon into diamonds after they are formed as if that's not enough diamonds are then violently transported closer to the Earth's surface primarily through a volcanic eruption and so it's not not only the pressure that creates them it's now the transportation in their lives it's also violent the entire life of a diamond is violent what you go through to become you is an important indicator of what you're called to be and who you call to free I'm gonna explain this to you real quickly this is something you've got to understand when God has great call and great purpose for your life he will allow you to go through hot situations he will allow you to go through pressurized situations because who you are becoming is more important than the moment that you're experiencing a diamond is forced through years of healing pressure now many of you know that just I gave you an example of the natural pearl and a cultural pearl but the diamond also has a counterpart it's called a cubic zirconia cubic zirconia is what I call the imposter diamond and it's created in put in well in some ways the same way but there's some differences the difference is while at while a diamond real diamond a true diamond goes through long-term heat and long-term pressure cubic zirconia is created in a microwave like setting let me explain it to you it is placed in an environment of 4800 degrees Fahrenheit and it comes out in a few hours beautiful and diamond is but it's not a diamond it looks like a diamond but it has a problem The Cure's the cubic zirconia endures a share of extremely heat only for a few hours but it lacks two things that a diamond or all diamonds have and the two things are pressure and flaws let me tell you why that's important the pressure a diamond goes through during its formation produces flaws on it and in it that gives it what's called personality and identity personality and identity and Kirk Franklin this video was addressing the pressure of leadership he was talking about how being exposed or - or being the lead of a family brought his vulnerabilities to light and when we listen to his songs his song speaks such life and it actually touches in the heart because of what's in him pressure produces something in a diamond that makes the diamond unique in itself let me tell you by the - what I call flaws of a diamond one is called a surface blemish the other one is called an internal inclusion and I wish had time to unpack all this but it's so amazing how the natural world nature reflects our lives the blemish on a diamond is always on the surface but the thing is to the naked eye you may be able to see a little bit of it but has to be magnified for to stand out and so a diamond with the blemish it doesn't mean it's not it's not worth anything because all diamonds all real diamonds are gonna be blemished um of course the greater the blemish the less the value but still they're all diamonds are blemished but the thing that grabbed me when I studied this is that all diamonds have a thing called an inclusion which is actually what we call a flaw but a gemologist does not call the the inclusion or the internal flaw he doesn't call the flaw he calls it he calls it an inclusion because this is important what happens actually is what a demos being formed a foreign matter was trapped on the inside of it it's not a part of the diamond but it's in it there are things in you right now that they're not a part of you you got them by genetics you got them by them differ much to experiences but they're not a part of you is when God looks at you God may see what other people things are unusable flaws disqualifying flaws other people see that but what God sees that God sees it as just a thing that he's gonna use the shape character I think that he's gonna use to bring out compassion in you a thing that he wants to use was not to increase your capacity in your capability just like a diamond pressure is gonna bring out the best in you when you learn the lesson of pressure I want to take you through a couple scriptures as I come to my close I want to take you through a couple scriptures to show you how how pressure can point you in the right direction and allow God to partner with you to bring about the results she desires in second Corinthians chapter 1 verse 8 the Apostle Paul is given testimony to his journeys to deliver the gospel to the Gentile people groups and when he's writing back to the church in Corinth in a second epistle in the first chapter he says today he said for but we would not brethren have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia and here's what he said he said we were pressed out of measure above strength in so much that we were just that we despaired even of life look at verse 9 verse 9 he says but we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in God which raises the dead in verse 10 he says who delivered us from so great a death and death deliver us in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us that's a good ilithyia Elizabeth Ian Englishness difficult to understand so what I want to do is go back to verse 8 and I want to break the scripture down in closing to show you the heart of God as it relates to the pressure you're under the word trouble Paul says but go back to King James because I want to speak to from the King James Version he said I want you to know about the trouble I don't want you to be ignorant by the trouble that we went through the trouble that's what trouble is the word I talked about the ellipsis the pressure of the moment or the pressure of the season the pressure of the responsibility is I want you to know that we came on the amazing pressure when we came over to Asia he said we will have a pretty normal run that our missionary journey and then we came under this pressurized moment you may be in a pressurized moment right now and you need to understand that nothing comes into your life unless God allows it watch this process he said not only did they we come into trouble he uses phrase he said we were pressed out of measure in the Greek as though is a phrase cata butter a barrier cata barrier and it means to be burdened to be weighed down or to be oppressed he said we were pressed or stressed out beyond our present capacity he said it was more than we could bear more than we thought we were able to handle at the moment he watches he say it was more than we were prepared for he said the thing we went through was more than we are troubled that the old sanctions that God would not put any more on you than you can bear what Paul said that is not true Paul says what we went through it was above our pay grade it was too much for us he says a matter of fact literally the next part that he says the one party said we thought we were gonna die he said we thought we're gonna die he said it was above our strength which means literally in the Greek we were completely overwhelmed listen to the description he's given does this sound just like what we go through what we're going through right now is I feel like I'm talking like I'm coming apart I just feel like everything is going wrong if it's not this as that is in the news as in my house oh my god and what I was happening process we went through the same thing he said we were pressed out of measure above our strength he said in some urge that we despite we despaired even of life he said we were ready to give up because it seemed hopeless he says trying seemed useless we felt helpless when you're in a situation of pressure when you've where you feel helpless listen to me beloved God is trying to teach you a lesson it's not a punishment he's trying to show now I want you understand this did you say I'm gonna teach you a lesson it means I'm gonna punish you and you're gonna feel it that's not what I'm saying that's not the way I'm using that when I say God is trying to teach you a lesson what I'm saying is God is trying to show you something you didn't know before God is trying to deepen your capacity extend your capability he's God is trying to raise up your compassion God is trying to listen there are a lot of people I feel by the Spirit of God to say this there are a lot of people you say pastor you know I'm just tie this racism listen to me a lot of people who are not speaking out against racism they're not speaking out because they they honestly cannot see it they don't have the capacity or the capability to see it so God is using even this pressurized moment to open people's eyes remove scales from their eyes to show them that there are things in the world that needs to be addressed by them but they don't have the capacity for it yet so what are your heart is he does he give him capacity he uses pressure he uses pressure now watch this now look at verse 9 in verse 9 Paul said but we have the sentence of death in ourselves he says that we should not trust in ourselves but in God which raises the dead now I want to speak to this because it's important this the kind of pressure that Paul was under is designed for one thing God allows pressure to come into our lives to get a singular result and here's the single result God wants us to stop depending on ourselves and start trusting him that's it God says I'm God said watch this God says you you trust yourself long enough to the point where your gift was your gifting was bringing about certain results your your charisma or your own passion your own strength was getting things done to the point where you got comfortable not needing God and God says you know what I'm gonna show you and not not yet understand it's not a viggen vindictive mindset the mindset is the enemy is setting you up because he understand in John 15 Jesus said without me you can't bear fruit so the enemy's trying to get you into priority where you start trusting in yourself so you stop trusting in God you disconnect from God and the result from that is the result the positive result you have in the past will gradually begin to diminish until you have no success at all so what does God do he increases the pressure in your life allows pressures increase so you can remember that all the food that beard I bear rather comes from a connection to God this is a powerful truth he says but we had the census of this and not death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in God which raises the dead notice something if you go back in verse 8 all that Paul said all of Paul's description of a situation were direct measurements of his own capacity and capability he says how he says what he said we don't have you bring our ignorant brethren how ignorant of our troubles which came to us in Asia he says we will press out of measure above our strength we despaired life everything he was measuring everything up by what he could do where he's been what he knows and when God really blocked realizes this because it's higher the lesson in this is Paul you may be trusting in yourself Paulette no time in verse 8 mentioned God he never mentioned God in the situation until he realized that he was in or for his head in verse 10 pressure reveals God is the deliverer because Paul says God delivered us from so greater death and he's delivering us now and he said we could trust that he's gonna deliver it in the future that's what he said when we look back at this we realized that God had delivered us he's continuing to deliver us now and he will deliver us in the future that is the faith we need to have that God is gonna deliver us he has delivered us in the past he's delivering us now and he will do it again in the future that's the God we serve and so I wanted I want to show you that you we again have to look at our God as the one who snatches our lives from the jaws of death he shows himself strong in our behalf when we trust him he wants us to know that he's the God that is that would be God to us on the pressure look at 2nd chronicles chapter 16 verse 9 for New Living Translation I'm gonna show you this the Bible says the eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him I want to show you this this is important because remember the issue in proverbs 24 10 is if I if I falter under pressure that means my strength is small I have limited strength he says for the eyes of the Lord are looking for the people the earth were under pressure he's looking for people under pressure to strengthen their hearts when he realized the word committed means that they're trusting him they're looking to him end up in this situation the Prophet said the King Aeson he said what a fool you have been for not trusting God what a fool you've been when you're under pressure you turned you still turn to yourself on others he says from now on you will be at war he says when I'm under pressure and I choose not to turn to God he said I will always find myself fighting battles I can't win always in some war with someone because I don't trust God now look at this I want to use it as my last Scripture David had been through pressure himself from the day God poured oil on David by the hand of Samuel a prophet David's life took a turn yes he killed Giants and and yes he will he was favored in Israel but he had to run from a Mad King and in doing so for 10 years at least David is running from Saul and he learned honor that pressure he washes he learned on that pressure that God will increase capacity and capability and compassion in our lives just to the pressures of life give me some 37 verse 39 New Living Translation I want to end with this and believe this is the promise to all of us today the Lord rescues the godly he is their fortress in times of trouble that's the word trouble pressure and verse 40 says the Lord helps them rescuing them from the wicked from twisted human thinking he saved them and they find shelter in him I want to say to you today that our God is a God that understands the pressures of life and he will never leave us to fend for ourselves if he only turned to him when this trouble gets real right about now I believe the struggle is real I love you and I trust God on your behalf father for all the people of God that heard the word of the Lord today cause us God to turn to you to trust you under this pressure and to learn the lesson that pressure is intended to teach in Jesus name Amen amen

Channel: Pastor Hart Ramsey

Views: 3,817

Rating: 4.9359999 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: UWZQJPhklEM

Length: 41min 7sec (2467 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 02 2020