Performing Under Pressure

aren't you thankful for the bay that God found you and you fell in love with his mercy His grace and who he is I'm so thankful to know him today I tell God all the time it's usually one of the first things that I say when I begin to pray is Lord thank you so much for giving me the revelation of who you are thank you for revealing to me that that you care about me and you love me in spite of my faults and failures and shortcomings I'm glad to know that God loves me amen if you have your Bibles this evening the book of 1st Samuel chapter 13 and verse 19 I'm going to remain it's not that often that I preach so synonymous throughout a revival but I've

just I feel like we're in a vein and the Holy Ghost and I want to remain in that today I want to be obedient to God that's that's the most thing I just want to be his servant and I want to listen to him when he speaks and I want to deliver you the burden that God has laid on my heart thank you again pastor Smith and love you appreciate you First Samuel chapter 13 and verse 19 the Bible says now there was no Smith found throughout all the Land of Israel for the Philistines said less the Hebrews make them swords or Spears but all the years lights went down to the Philistines to sharpen every man his share and his culture and his axe and his mattock yet they had a file for the Mattocks and for the cultures and for the forks and for the axes and to sharpen the goads yet they had a file the Bible says so it came to pass in the day of battle that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan that was Saul and with Jonathan's son was there found a man if God will help us today I want to preach to us just for a little while performing under pressure performing under pressure would you just lift your hands wherever you are and that's the Lord to help us god be love you we praise you we give you glory thanks there's nobody like you god you're wonderful you're perfect and everything that you do or ask you dear Lord right now to speak to your people speak to our hearts our minds our spirits encourage us in this season that we're in in Jesus name we pray a man a man a man if you take time to read this chapter you will find that God's people are in distress they are hiding from their enemy the Philistines and there were many of the Israelites that would bring their tools to the Philistines for sharpening but what I can find as there were certain Israelites that were allowed to keep a file to sharpen their tools it's not very deep but when you go into the Hebrew language you see that the origin of this word filed by definition means to abrade with pressure we are living in a day I think that we can all agree that we are all under unprecedented pressure we are living in an era where the pressure just to keep our sanity is at the highest that it's probably ever been if you read the news any at all you'll find that most everyone that has any kind of political pull anyone that is semi-famous is telling people that you must remain in good mental health because these are days that we are living in where our mind is under so much pressure naturally we understand that everything is under pressure the walls in this building the foundation under your home the chair that you are sitting in everything in the natural world is under pressure and in the in more of a living sense we are under pressure not just under this mental pressure of living in this era that we're in but the pressure of losing jobs maybe the pressure of our family and money the pressure for some of us to keep our mouths shut when it's us when somebody's getting on our nerves and the pressure for not just getting in someone's ideologies but to have our own thought process the thought of the pressure of being able to pray the pressure of being able to find the will of God the pressure of being able to know that God is working and God is moving and not even seeing or being able to believe that we live in a day where it's really hard to believe that God's working in this area that we're living in I don't know about you but I'm telling you I'm finding myself more and more listening to people saying I feel like I'm about to cave in a bill like I've done all that I can do but what we need to understand today is that is all that the Philistines had left Israel with what's pressure pastor Smith they took their swords they took their shields they took their Spears they took everything that they had and left them with a file which again by Hebrew definition means pressure I can tell you today that you may not realize it but God pressure is God's way of increasing value to an object cold under the earth without pressure is burned at a barbecue but put enough pressure on it and it becomes a diamond you can go to the grocery store and you can find plain olives for about five dollars per jar

but then you look on the next aisle and you find the aisle of all and you can find that a small bottle is somewhere between fifteen to twenty dollars simply because the olive oil is what survived the pressure because pressure is an exactor of the destiny that God has placed in you there are some things that will only come out of you when pressure is applied there is greatness that is in you that cannot come out of you until pressure is applied what we need to understand in this season is clothes in 1912 in nineteen is God putting pressure on us to be the diamond in the rough to be the valuable source that we are God is putting pressure on the church so that we can realize we have value in this world that we're living in a we have value in our world hallelujah man by the name of Paul undoubtably in book of second Corinthians we can see he is under pressure 1st 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 8 reads for we would not brethren have you ignorant of the trouble which came to us in Asia that we were pressed out a measure above strength in so much we despaired even alive Paul said we were so pressed we were pressed above our own measure we were pressed above our own strength and so much that we got to the point we didn't even want to live but then he said we have the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in God which raises the dead who delivered us from so great a death and death the liver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us Paul said we were facing death on every side but we did not die because we were trusting a God that could raise the dead let me tell you something saying of God it's hard for the devil to scare you and death when you realize that your life is in the hand of the one that raises the data and so if God don't want you dead you're not gonna die the devil can kill you are only to bring about a greater miracle that God raised you up from the dead Paul said we were pressed beyond measure we were dead in our own self in our own power there was not feel the Holy Ghost right now there was no way to get out our own power there was no way to make it work in our own power we were gonna fail we were gonna fall out but we sir god I feel Jesus moving right now we serve a god that is greater than the death that's greater than our situation are we under pressure yes we are but at the end of the day it's making me who God wants me to be it's anointing me greater than I've ever been an order before it's helping me to realize I've got something to do for God because we serve a God that delivered us that's passed him and death deliver that's present-tense huh and he's gonna deliver us yep again he said he is the God that is that was and that is the comma the God that has delivered us was justification the God that is delivering us was sanctification and McGough that will deliver us was glorification look at how paul is talking to us huh he said I want you to know saint of God you might be down you might be hopeless huh you might be ready to throw in the towel but recognize something is the Gulf that was and is an Easter comma he can deliver you in your past huh he can deliver you right now and he will deliver you in the future that's there's no way you're ever gonna go that God's not gonna walk with you you might be under pressure but baby it's time to perform and just know that God is fighting with me needs to hear me you might face a trial tomorrow that like Paul said in your strength it's death but we serve a God that will yet deliver again yah has you surrounded the Bible says that he encompasses them about with songs of deliverance and if you don't believe me you can go to scripture and you can find that there's nowhere that you can go or even anywhere that you can look that God's not there with you because if you need somebody to walk in front of you the Bible says that David is writing the Lord is my shepherd I he's the God that leads me God's got your front st. of God

and later Onan Psalms 23 he said surely goodness and mercy shall follow me so not only is God got my front but God's got my back too and in case the devil comes in from the side he said thy rod and thy staff they comfort me I got you on every side and incase the devil comes from above he said I've known in my head with all and if he tries to come against you from the inside greater is He that's in me that he said in the world and in case he tries to come against you from underneath somebody needs to look at the devil and say and Christ the solid rock I stand up he's before me he's behind me he's on every side he's underneath me that's why the double needs to be careful when he's messing with you because God's not a trap set up on every side I'm the wrong Santa in the wrong season devil you need to recognize who you're talking to I know it's just a couple of us in here but I feel the Holy Ghost right now going to someone's home even now and well you might be walking around in your kitchen but I'm telling you I feel conviction and the Holy Ghost somebody's gonna recognize who you are that this pressure did not come to destroy you but it come to bait make you better than you ever were before I'm telling you right now I still listen the Holy Ghost this church is coming out of this thing with more power and more anointing than we've ever had before we're coming out with a greater revival then we never expected no I'm not I'm telling you right now in the Holy Ghost you watch and see what God starts doing you watch and see out of this pressure if people don't start getting Baptizer at an unprecedented rate because God is letting everybody know these are my children and that's where you need to be fine the ones that were supposed to be helping him well the ones that turn their back on him the greatest don't expect everybody to be as excited about your vision as you are the truth is is forever dream there's a dream killer because when someone doesn't have the ability to dream they survive by killing everybody else's and so they put their brother in the pit and they strip his coat because they're jealous of what's going on in his life everything would have went smoothly for his brothers if that's all they did just put him in a pit and take his coat but the moment they killed the animal and dip the coat in blood therefore bringing about the justification of the cross they I'm telling you right now anytime you see blood in the Old Testament you got God's attention God's looking down at what's happening at the but God is attracted to this they dipped his coat in the blood of the kid springing about again the scapegoat and I wish I had time to preach all that lord have mercy there's so much good preaching in it but I really don't have time and they they come to this place where they've got God's attention the blood gets involved and now God sees Joseph's down in the pit somebody under pressure needs to hear me you aren't coming out of this pit because you're perfect but you're coming out of this pit because the blood got involved you're not coming out of this pit because you've done everything right God knows none of us have done everything right but you're coming out of the yeah because the blood got involved Joseph you need to hear me right now the reason we're where you're at and the reason you're going where you're going up it's because the blood got involved and when the blood gets involved God turns your mirrors into Windows and where you starting looking back at all the trouble that you had in your father's house you start looking forward to the vision of tomorrow of what's gonna happen and God is gonna make a way let me tell you something it's not time for us to start looking back at what happened and who did what and what farewell and all of this junk that that keeps holding us back we need to understand that if they left you it means they were not with you your destiny is not connected to the people

that walked out on you I don't know why I'm saying this but I feel this in the Holy Ghost right now your destiny I will say it again your destiny is not connected to the people who walked out on you they might walk away but let them go because it's not them that's controlling your future it's not them that's controlling your tomorrow let me tell you something Fred you just keep hanging older Jesus huh I don't have time to argue with people that don't want to have revival and what are you thinking about what happened yesterday behold all things are new I know we're under pressure but I can't look at the failures of yesterday and expect to have victory tomorrow I got a press for that mark it's probably like some of us right now what in the world did I ever do to deserve this pastor Smith I give I pray I worship I'm a good Sain of God what did I ever do to deserve this why am I here why am I in this place but let me preach to somebody right now and tell you that the devil messed up when he puts you in a pit because in a pit you can't look to your left and you can't look to your right because there's walls on every side when you're in a pit you can't look down to the floor cuz there's no way to go that way but when you got the devil really messed up when he put you in a pit because when he puts you there the only place you can look what's up he messed up when he made you he put you in a place where the only place you could look was unto the hills from whence cometh your help he messed up when he puts you in a pit because it's in that pit that you're gonna look up for your Redemption draweth nigh I come to tell a Joseph this tight it's time to look up stop looking down and all the depressing problems that's going on in your world and understand it's time to look up there's a better day coming up I know you're under pressure right now but now's the time you need to perform now's the time you need to do a call has called you to do it's time for you to pray like you never prayed saying a god it's time for you to worship like you never worship before performing this pressure perform in this mess I'm telling you leaders just leader and God put the Apostolic Church how to be a leader in the time of peril if we can just learn how to perform in the pressure I know you're in the pit but start looking up everything's gonna be all right everything's gonna be all right everything's gonna be all right I'm gonna say it up until you get it in your spirit out everything everything everything everything it's gonna be all right God's always made a way and he'll just keep make it away and then the next thing you see the Bible says and Joseph was brought down to Egypt catch that Joseph was brought down to Egypt what we fail to realize is that when the devil brings us down he's making an announcement that he's already beneath us I know I've been I've been in this in this vein for quite a while with a Smith and I know I sound like a broken record but I can't get it out of my spirit there's something that God's doing something with this church we've been in a season of where we've just been kind of making it along we've been spending time in the pit if you will the saints of God good people of this church have been spending a lot of time feeling like The Devil's doing everything he can to drown you in the pit but you need to understand that he is beneath your feet and you need to understand that the reason he is fighting you the way that he is is he scared to death that you're gonna start performing under pressure and in the middle of all hell breaking loose you're just gonna start doing what God called you to do hey you need to webster up that gift that is within thee there's some prayer warriors that ain't been praying the way they know to pray it's time to stir up that gift there's some worshipers that ain't been worshiping the way that you know how to worship it's time to stir up that gift preacher I ain't been to church in a month I I don't know how I'm gonna do it I'm gonna tell you what you don't worship God because of the church and you don't worship God because of the pastor you don't pray because the preacher and you don't pray because of the church you gotta learn how to get this outside of the four walls and say

I'm gonna perform under this pressure that I'm facing that I'm fighting up because I know that if I'll just start performing a God will start working a miracle I gotta stop me if I'll do my part God will start doing his part if I were something if I pray up he'll show up where I am and every demon in hell that's been trying to strangle the life out of me I'll start backing up because I'm being who God wants me to be but I serve a god and so I'm trying to preach as quickly as I can through the life of Joseph I'm having to skip so much good stuff I want to preach three hours right now but I'm not gonna do it I promise but God allows Joseph to go to this place called Egypt and goes in the pot of his house he brought down to Egypt the part of his house and we see that God has blessed him and God has blessed everything that he is touched he begins to move upon Joseph and brings them to a place of power and so now because his place of power has he's coming to this place of power and God has blessed him we find that Potiphar's wife starts trying to get Joseph to lie with her I want you to understand something the scripture indicates that she did all of this after he was promoted pastor Smith Potiphar's wife never took notice of Joseph until he started getting promotion she never took notice of him until he got power and then she said now it's the time that I'm gonna slip in here and try to make this thing work she didn't want him she just wanted this position I'm trying to help somebody tonight and understand that you shouldn't let people determine your worth because of your promotion because you realize promotion didn't make Joseph but Joseph made promotion you don't believe me you go and read your Bible what did Potiphar's wife take from him she took his coat the same thing that his brothers took from him you want to know why because she was trying to strip him of everything in that day and time that recognized him as a person of power but Joseph had the ideology that you can take my clothes but you can't take my capabilities you might can take my coat but you're not gonna take the pay the person that's living inside of the coat you can take my shoes but you can't take my shout you can take anything you want to take from me but at the end of the day there are some things that God put in me as the old song says the world didn't give it and the world can't take it away you need to realize saying of God the devil can tempt you and the devil can try to strip you but that's only some things that God's gonna allow him to touch he might get your coat but he can't take your Holy Ghost now the only thing that he can only way that he can get that is if you give it to him you need to make up in your mind like Joseph you take this coat I'll go get another you take my job that's all right I'll go get another one out you take this blessing that's fine I'll go find another because I realize at the end of the day I the favor of God is on my life up my kata and as long as I keep living for God God will keep sending coats my way but there's another coat on the way there's another blessing on the way up that's another promotion on the way if I just keep performing under pressure I don't have anything else neither did the lights that I read to you about tonight in our text all they had left was pressure all they had left was that you'll never be anything all they had left is you're just a shadow of the Church of the saint that you used to be what the devil messed up when he left you with pressure he's stolen all of your weapons but let me just tell you something he might take your weapon but he can't take the fight out of you he might can take your tambourine and your way to church but we got to realize that it's Christ in you the hope of glory it's not Christ on the outside of

you it's not Christ in the church building thank God we got a nice church building and we're gonna come back to it here in a couple weeks God be women and we're gonna shout and dance and talking tongues and have a good time but it's not this church building that the chair is really the church it's Christ in you God put some in hue God put pressure and God put destiny and hue and he's allowing this pressure he put this pressure in your life to bring the best saint of God that you could ever be out as musicians are coming I'm getting ready to close don't be upset with God because when God puts you in a prison cell he's always gonna put people in there with you Bible tells us that there was a butler and the Baker and I won't go into all the details I wish I had time to preach it all I guess said I there's just so much preaching in this but you got to understand the position and the jobs of these two men a baker his job is to make preparations and a butler his job is to open doors you see while you're in this time of pressure you feel like you're caving in God's gonna put a butler and a baker in your life so that some doors will be open and that's so so some preparations will be made let me just tell you I feel it so strong in my spirit there's some preparations being made right now there are some doors that are being open right now in a world where it seems like the economy's fixing a crash I'm telling you right now God's gonna give some apostolic people some wisdom how to be entrepreneurs in this season and you might be struggling right now but I know I've been talking a lot about it the last couple of weeks but it's just if we won't leave me alone every time I get down to pray God's bugging me with it there's gonna be some people in this church let er go be more financially blessed when this is over than you've ever been before in your life because God is opening doors and God is making preparations where you are right now would you just lift your hands and lift your voice and say God help me to perform under the pressure that I'm the end help me to perform in spite of what I'm going through I don't want to fail I don't want to fall in this season I don't want to live for you all this time and in the last moments give in and give out help me to live for you help me to do what you've called me to do come on would you awaken that Sain of God would you awaken that prayer warrior would you waken to awaken that worshipper inside of you come on census even get the same would you just lift your hands and help to pray come on god help us to be what you caused us to do