OPENING STATEMENT:

• Pressure and Being Perfected go hand in hand.
• Without pressure there is no perfection or completeness in God.
• Pressure always points to the solution.

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation (Pressure); but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 NKJ)

• Just a few verses before, Jesus was warning them about the pressure of carrying the Gospel.
• In this world you will have tribulation, you will be under pressure. The pressure is real, but as long as you remain in me, you will have perfect peace and the pressure will have no power to harm you. I am the solution to the pressure.

⁶ For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. ⁷ We now have this light shining in our hearts but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

• God has chosen us, our imperfect selves to carry His glory.
• The Pressure always points to the solution- Jesus!

⁸ We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. ⁹ We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.

• The reason why pressure does not crush or destroy us or drive us to despair is because of the Jesus inside of us.

# 1 PRESSURE SHAPES US

• Sometimes we refer to those pressures as stress.
• The clinical definition of stress is any type of change that cause physical, emotional, and psychological strain.
• The pressure applied here is not meant crush or destroy you but to shape you.

¹⁶ That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 

• We might look like fragile jars of clay but we are containers of the greatest power of earth- The Holy Spirit. This power is shaping us day by day.

¹⁷ For our present troubles (Pressures) are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! ¹⁸ So we don’t look at the troubles (Pressures) we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NKJ)

• The pressure or stress that we now feel will not last forever. But the effects of the shaping will be last forever.

# 2 PRESSURE CREATES DESTINY

• The word destiny and destination go hand in hand.

The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. ² I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. ³ I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:1-3 NLT)

• Pressure not only create destiny, but it also releases God promises!
• How many of us here have moved, changed jobs, just because we heard the voice of God?
• Pressure creates destiny!

#3 PRESSURE POINTS TO PURPOSE

• Jesus picked this garden for a reason. Gethsemane means pressed. The purpose of this garden was to pressed olive and extract oil.
• Jesus was there to point to His purpose as Messiah.
• The word Messiah comes from the Hebrew root word “Mashach” meaning “to anoint” or “to smear with oil”. Messiah means “Anointed One”
• Jesus had to be pressed to become the Messiah, the Anointed One- His purpose!

³⁶ Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” ³⁷ He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. ³⁸ He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” ³⁹ He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” (Matthew 26:36-39 NLT)

• The pressure was the only way, His purpose could be fulfilled.

CONCLUSION

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?