This Is Only A Test The Pressure Test

I'll try to be quiet, but I don't know if that's possible. I get excited. Me and my kids were just talking about that with Morgan.

It's like, Dad, how do you get loud? And I don't plan it. Like, it's not like in my sermon, get loud here. It's just, you know, when the word comes alive and it's just excited and it just comes upon me.

And so that's usually what happens. The title this morning is, this is only a test, the pressure test. Anybody have pressure tests in your life? I can preach this one this morning.

Let me tell you, it's hard in that pressure, isn't it? Last week, I talked about building a God and summoning a demon. So I want you to listen to that so you can kind of figure out where we're at now because we're going through the book of Acts systematically verse by verse. And the key verse today that really stands out is from Acts, where we're at.

We are in Acts 14 still, but the verse that I'm really focusing on is we must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God. I'm not a fan of that verse. Don't you wish when you came to know the Lord, it was like, kind of heaven now? That would be pretty glorious, but it's warfare now.

Life is a battleground, not a playground, A.W. Tozer said in the 1960s. And boy, did we learn that lesson. But what I like is to be forewarned is you're forearmed.

When you know what to expect, and that's the problem I have with a lot of messages that go out, you know, these books that are bestsellers. And it doesn't prepare Christians for the warfare, for what it really is, what it means to be a Christian. You might not have your best life now.

You might not have ease and comfort and come to Jesus, He'll fix everything. Sometimes He messes up a lot of things too, to conform our character to His image. And I think just letting people know that, it helps prepare them.

Because the road to following Jesus is not only narrow, it's also difficult. It's challenging. Well, then why would I choose it? Because it's better to be inside of God's arms and His will than to be outside of His will and experience an abundant, fun life and to be really on a collision course to judgment.

And God's got you. It's hard to explain, even in the midst of adversity and testing, when the Holy Spirit really grips your heart in that relationship with God, you wouldn't trade that in. It's what I've told you before, like, Lord, take this from me, but don't take this from me.

It's that dichotomy of the Christian faith. And the Greek word for tribulations does mean pressure. Anybody feeling that? Pressure, compression, or feeling of being squeezed.

It refers to being burdened by crushing circumstances, anguish, or severe trouble. And the context that we're going to read about here in just a minute is persecution. But any type of tribulation can knock us off track.

Even though it's dealing with persecution, any type of tribulation. I almost prefer persecution because in America, it's a lot different. But you know, hey, I'm getting persecuted for the Gospel.

But when other things happen, the diagnosis that you might get, the adversity, the marriages break, those things are a little harder to deal with. You're like, Lord, hey, what's going on here? Am I outside of Your will? But with persecution, you know it comes with the territory. And as Christians, and there's nothing wrong with this, we want to undo the squeeze.

We want to ease the pain and we want to relieve the pressure. And the reason I think for the pressure test is what's really inside comes out. Because when there's pressure, do you hold the line? Is your faith genuine? And I actually used to do pressure testing in construction.

Many of you in construction know that. You have to pressure test. We pressure test our lines.

I'm putting in fire hydrants. You know, can it hold 100, well, I don't remember now, 180 PSI under pressure? And or is it going to start leaking? And we would pressure test tanks and different things. Can it hold the weight? Can it hold the pressure of what's going to come upon it? And God often will use these pressure tests in our lives.

And usually it's a little bit easier when you're a new believer and younger and that pressure seems to increase. And it's really forming and building and shaping your character. Because as you're squeezed, what's inside comes out.

And then that's an opportunity to say, Lord, help me in this area. I didn't realize I had so much pride. I didn't realize I had so much anger and frustration and fear, anxiety.

Like, wow, Lord, this is really coming out of me. And it allows you to fix those areas. It really refines your character.

It defines who you are. And it aligns you with God's will. It's a very important test.

So that's the backdrop as we open Acts 14, verse 19. Then the Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out into the city, supposing that he was dead. So one minute they're praising him.

If you remember from last week, oh, look at the gods have come down. And now the Jews are stirring up because of jealousy and they're persuading the multitude and now they actually stone Paul. And isn't that, being in the center of God's will isn't always easy.

You can imagine Paul and Barnabas and they're like, no, no, no, we're not gods. Please, men. And now the next issues are dealing with being stoned and persecuted.

And that really is the Christian faith sometimes. Jesus, they cried Hosanna one day and crucified Him the next. They worked up the crowd and not much has changed.

However, when the disciples gathered around Him, He rose up and went into the city. And the next day, He departed with Barnabas to Derbe. So commentators are divided on how, well, let me just use a common phrase, how jacked up He was.

He probably didn't look too well. You know, having big stones thrown on you. And I mean, this is amazing that He actually got up and some people believe that God healed Him or gave Him supernatural strength to persevere.

And that's one thing I do know about being in the center of God's will, that God will sustain you as long as you trust in Him. As long as you rely on Him and turn to Him and wait upon Him. That's where the sustaining power comes from.

It doesn't come from you or me inside. It comes from relying on the Spirit and that He sustains us as believers. And so when they had preached the Gospel, we're going to see that a lot here and in the New Testament, of course.

When they had preached the Gospel, okay, this is important because that's what we should be doing. One mark of a true church is they preach the Gospel. They tell you the truth about truth.

That's a good mark. It's not about money and motivation and being cool and all these... That's why we're here. Aren't we here? That's why I'm here.

And my job until the day I die is to preach the Gospel. And that's same with you as believers. And you don't have to preach.

The word actually means heralding the good news. And that doesn't have to be like what I'm doing. It can be individually.

You're heralding. You're telling people the good news. And when they did that, they made many disciples because when you preach the Gospel in its totality, it means you're not embarrassed about it.

You don't water it down. You just... Here's what the Bible says. The Holy Spirit then begins to work in that and begins to convict hearts.

You are embarrassed about God's Word and you dumb it down. You're void of the Spirit's power in that message because you're not telling people how they can really be saved. You're not telling them the truth.

Did you know Jesus spoke more about hell than heaven? He said go and preach repentance. Repentance is a turning from sin and a turning to God. What we're basically saying is I'm embarrassed about the cross.

Correct? I'm not going to go there. I've told you before, I knew of churches who would tell their worship team, don't sing about the blood. People get a little offended.

New visitors. It's like, hello? Maybe they need to be convicted. Nothing but the blood.

The blood of Jesus. What can wash away my sins? Maybe that will convict them. Maybe that will change them.

Maybe that will challenge them to repent and believe. When we honor God's Word, He does something amazing. And that's why we built this church.

One of the foundational pillars was the desperate need for absolute truth. There is an absolute truth. And so after they made many disciples, because they preached the truth, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples.

How did they strengthen their souls? They exhorted them. In other words, they encouraged them to continue in the faith, saying we must through many tribulations enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And you guys, this church has been a great encouragement to us these last four or five months.

It's been encouraging to hear people just encourage in the faith and to say just keep walking that path. Because words carry weight, don't they? They carry a lot of weight. They either motivate or discourage.

They either instill fear, or they take away that fear and anxiety. But a couple of reminders, persecution doesn't disprove our faith. It actually confirms it.

If you're not getting persecuted anywhere, if your family members aren't upset at you that aren't believers, don't go upset on purpose, but you just might live a certain way and say no to certain things, and they don't like how you live. People at work, they'll make fun of you or they'll mock you. If there's no persecution, you have to wonder, what side of the fence are you on? Again, don't go look for it, please.

But I'm not going to the office party. Y'all get drunk. Okay? That just came to me.

So that's one, right? It's just the way you live. I'm not going to look at that stuff. I was in construction.

Guys would bring poor magazines to the job site. And they'd say, oh, don't show shame. Yeah, exactly.

Don't show shame. And so, just the way you live. And no matter where in your family.

I'm believers. When you have Thanksgiving dinner together, you have to be careful with what you say. What you believe.

Who you voted for. Be careful. Don't get me started on you guys.

Stephen was stoned. The very first disciple. I mean, one of the first.

James was killed, and now Paul is assaulted. Yet we think we're going to have this glorious, wonderful, carefree life. But it does beg the question, why do Christians persevere? Why do they? Well, number one, genuine Christians persevere because they're not fake.

A genuine believer. Here's how this works. A genuine believer genuinely has the Holy Spirit.

Correct? We can all agree on that. So, you have the Holy Spirit. You have this internal witness.

You have the Spirit of God in you. So, that keeps you anchored to the faith. Now, the more you submit to His work, the more you follow Him, the more you seek Him, the more filled you will be and the more bold you will be in the face of persecution.

But if you're living a carnal, lukewarm lifestyle, you're quenching and grieving the Spirit, you might not stand up for your faith as boldly as you should. Now, of course, there's fake Christians that aren't Christians. But it is a sign that true believers will persevere in their faith.

The Bible talks about that as well. And of course, you get into the whole debate. This is actually one point that I do agree with on Calvinism.

The tulip, total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints. It was the response to Roman Catholicism and things in the 1500s or so. And I do believe a true believer will persevere.

Now, falling away, that's a whole other topic. But I do believe that the Holy Spirit is convicting a true believer even if they're not walking with the Lord. And I've seen people deny the faith kind of, but they're so convicted about it, they go home and cry.

I wish I would have been stronger. I would see that's the Holy Spirit convicting them. So there's that genuineness that is so important.

And I know I like what Paul said, I have fought the good fight. I have finished my race and I have kept the faith. And that should be the motto of every believer.

I just watched last night, for an hour, I'm going to send it to all the pastors I know, Chuck Swindoll on Finishing Strong at 91 years old. He was a great Bible teacher. When I came back to the Lord, him, Charles Stanley, of course, MacArthur and David Jeremiah.

And just to hear him talk about how to finish well. How to keep the faith. It's so important.

It's so important because that's the measure of our life as a Christian. Can you imagine living for Christ and then decades later, rejecting or at least bringing tarnish to the name? What's another reason? Or how do they persevere? They trust in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. They trust in the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

He is Lord. This world is not. I will not bow to Caesar.

I will follow Christ. And doing that, because He's your Lord, you can't bow to another God. Polycarp, before he was murdered, martyred, I think he was stabbed and put on the lid up and they burned him at the stake.

And he said, 86 years have I served Him and He has never done me wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior? Genuine faith. And then finally, the Holy Spirit, as I said earlier, the Holy Spirit strengthens us as we submit.

You have to submit to be strengthened. You have to say, Lord, come in and do this deep work in my heart. I'm fearful.

I'm anxious. I don't know how to handle this at work, but I'm submitting to what You want me to say, what You want me to do. I am Your vessel.

Lord, You use me how You want. And then that's where that empowering from the Spirit comes from. Because you have to fight those thoughts all day long, don't you? Against fear and anxiety.

And I had so many case studies. Fannie Crosby. Have you guys heard of that name before? She was blind at a young age and wrote all these incredible hymns.

And Horatio Spatford. I've talked about him before. Lost his four daughters at sea and wrote the amazing hymn A Sea Below's Roll.

It is well with my soul. How do you write that? Ian Bounds. What a great book on prayer.

Do you know he lost a few children too, I believe. George Whitefield. A lot of adversity in his life.

Wesley. And you read about these people. Spurgeon.

And all these people we read about. Oswald Chambers and Amy Carmichael. Elizabeth Elliott who lost her husband to that tribe that killed him.

And then she went back and ministered to them with one of her children. It's like these people that we look to, we read about, they've been to hell and back. They passed the pressure test.

That's really the key. And I shared this on a Wednesday night, but I want to share it here. Psalm 105.19. Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him.

Now, this is of course of Joseph. And God said, you will be a ruler. Can you imagine Joseph, this young man, probably teenager? You know, and I got this great word from the Lord.

I had these dreams. And yeah, man, this is going to be great. A couple months from now.

Maybe this time next year. Boy, oh boy, did he go through it. And that's what God will take you through.

And that's why it says until the time that God's word came to pass, it actually tested him. Because when you have that promise from God, or you're just having faith in God, there's a test. It doesn't happen right away.

It's part of the testing. And you get to the point where, and that's why I love quoting Job, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. You get to the point like those three Hebrew boys.

Our God will deliver us. But even if He doesn't, we will not bow down. To me, that's sanity.

That's how I keep my sanity. Because you don't know what God's going to do. Well, Shane, that's unbelief.

No, I believe in God, I trust Him, but you know, He's God, I'm not. I want the easy way out. I like the verses on healing.

I don't like the verses on pulse. Three times I prayed, but God said, no, it's going to stay. My grace is sufficient.

Wait a minute, I like these ones. I want these verses. And because that's our desire, that's our hope, that's our goal.

But when it doesn't happen, does it test your faith? Yes, it will test your faith. Because that Scripture is just as valid as those. Lord, take this away.

God said, I won't. Because it's going to keep you humble. And my grace is going to be sufficient.

You have to believe both. That's why these name it and claim it guys on TV, they drive me nuts. If you just have enough faith and send me a thousand dollars.

I saw one clip this week of this lady, some false prophetess down in L.A. and this kid's having a demonic and she's like, this is why you got to sow a big seed for this type of deliverance. I wanted to kick her. Like that's beyond... Healing is never related to giving to a false prophet.

Be careful. It's unseeking God. So you might be asking, how do I pass this test? Well, good question.

I thought of some things this week that just in my own journey, will you hold the line when the race seems uncertain? Will you trust God even when life is falling apart? Here's the thing about belief in God. It has to be tested. It must be tested.

There's no other way to prove the genuineness of your faith than by going through the pressure test. Will you hold on to Him when everything is collapsing? Isn't that so important? I just love that. I don't know, maybe it's this week, I've been thinking about it a lot.

She just had to get to Jesus and just touch the hem of His garment. If I could just encounter Him... Lord, just a moment with You, a moment with the Savior will change your life forever. If I can just get to Him... And she was going through it, was she not? Issues not even physicians can help.

And you guys know I'm working on a new booklet, hopefully this week, it's going to be finalized. We've got Christine, thank you for the editing. Man, and Leo for your patience, because she's done a lot of work on this thing.

But my point is you can't trust. You cannot trust in alternatives and conventional and physician. You cannot trust in that.

God may use them. You have to trust in Him and Him alone. There is no plan B. There is no backup.

He is the plan. But sometimes He'll take you to the depths of despair. And will you hold on to Him even when everything is collapsing? True story.

I don't even know, I've been praying if I should tell you this or not. But February, a couple reached out out of state. And the irony is he has the same exact thing as me.

I mean, like to a T. And so I'm helping them and sending them stuff. And then I just got her message Instagram, you know, thank you for our help. He just passed away last week because it went to his lungs.

It's like, dang, Lord. And here I am coughing up. I'm like, man, the darkness and the depression that just comes upon you.

Will you hold the line even when things seem uncertain? And of course, you take those thoughts captive. And it's like, you know, you do all that, but still faith is challenged. Faith is challenged.

And will you draw near to God versus reverting back to sin? That really tests it, doesn't it? Because I can tell you how many people have reverted back to sin. Back to the relationship they shouldn't be in. Back to that drinking habit or that pill habit or that porn habit when they're upset at God.

No, you've got to get anchored into Him even more. Will you draw near to Him versus reverting back to sin? Will you remain thankful and grateful even in the midst of the adversity? Oh, did I learn a lot about me? Do you know when you're going through a lot, it's hard to be thankful and grateful? Golly! Will you be gracious and compassionate to others? Oh, I did not pass that test. Well, that's what the pressure test does.

Because when you're hit, what's inside comes out. And I didn't choose this battle. God chose it.

But I've got so many people. You guys saw the CBN News probably interview that went out. Christian Post wants to do one now.

Many of you guys follow Daniel Pompa. He wants me to fly out to his place in July. And I don't like to talk about it.

People ask, I'm praying for you. How are you doing? I'm like, oh, I forgot all about it until you said something. Golly! But God's just more gracious and compassionate.

But it doesn't come out until you go through that test. Pride will be crushed as well during the pressure testing. So what do you do? Well, you have to fix your gaze upon Him.

That's the only hope. Whenever I'm afraid, I will trust in You. In God, I will praise His Word.

In God, I have put my trust. I will not fear. What can flesh do to me? And see, here's the thing.

You don't just quote it. You believe it. Big difference.

You don't just quote it. You believe it. And you begin to tell God's Word is true.

God, You know. What can flesh do to me? Those who wait upon the Lord shall not be ashamed. Do you really believe that? I do.

Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. I believe that. Do you? Trust not in your own understanding, but lean upon God and He shall direct you.

Commit your works to the Lord and your thoughts will be established. And you begin to transform your thinking again to the Word of God. And then Acts 14 actually closes out and it says they appoint elders.

Gosh, it's just hard not to... I just don't think the church is prepared for the pressure that may come. You see what's going on in France and Europe, and we're worried if the parking lot's full. People, they turn around and get upset when the parking lot's full.

Sorry, rabbit trail. We just have to prepare our kids. It's a wonderful life to follow the Lord.

There's no other peace, but it comes with a price. You're in a war for your soul, for your very soul. You're in a war for your family as well.

And so it concludes, they appointed elders in every church as they prayed and fasted. So that's one reason I actually chose this, knowing myself. I chose when we formed the church, we had $100, and I went to Grace Chapel to talk to Pastor Chris, and we borrowed their bylaws.

And I said, I think we need to be plurality of elders. Because I could have designed it to where I'm the head guy. I'm the head honcho.

A lot of churches do that. Like, he's senior pastor. Hello.

That's why I'm a lead pastor. Leader among equals. And I did that just for the safety, the accountability.

Never look back. We have a great elder team. God has always just brought incredible men.

And that's where we get this from. We believe that the plurality of elders governing the church. Because one man by himself is a loose cannon.

For sure. And that's why you guys seeing in the charismatic world all these leaders falling. Well, they're not.

A lot of them are staying in ministry. Because they have no accountability. If you have a board that can fire you, you'd be seeing a lot less of this.

These shenanigans in people. And so that's what's happening. And so that's one of the verses we use is they appointed elders in every church.

And they prayed. And they did something else many of us don't do. Here's why it's so important.

As I'm praying, Lord, future leaders, whatever your prayer request is. I don't know about you, but my flesh has a voice. Feed me.

Feed me. Feed me. And the more you cave into that, the less it's hard to really hear the voice of God.

And so there's a season of just praying and fasting. And they continue traveling and preaching the Gospel. They continue traveling and preaching the Gospel.

It's said it again. So, I need to tell you guys, just so some of you might not know, I summed it up as simple as I could, okay? What is the Gospel? The Gospel is, there is good news regarding the bad news. Yeah, so what do you mean? There's good news.

That's what it actually means. The Gospel is good news. But you can't explain the good news without the bad news.

For example, if all you do is, if I went around and said, the governor pardoned you. Alright, thanks. But if you knew you had a life sentence, oh, you'd be on your knees crying, thanking.

And that's the problem with many of the sermons that go out in many churches. They don't tell you about the bad news. But that's really what the... Without that, how do you understand the good news? How do you understand the cross? And redemption.

The need for repentance without the bad news. Because according to the Bible, there's only one remedy. There's one solution.

There's one cure. And that is, repent and believe in the Gospel. Repent from what? The bad news.

The bad lifestyle. I'm a sinner. I'm caught in sin.

The wrath of God is upon me. I need to repent and believe in the good news. That's why they call it the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And the reason is, and many people stop short here, judgment has a price. Judgment has a price. Did you know the Bible is full from Genesis, I think, to God's judgment.

Now, it's uncomfortable, isn't it? For some. Because the hand of God is heavy upon the guilty. That's why they don't want to hear it.

That's why sermons like this will probably not get 100,000 views. That's why people are just kind of... But it's true. It's true.

And in order to tell people the truth, you have to shoot them straight. And imagine, do you believe in a great white throne judgment? Do you believe in that? Well, to believe in the Bible, you have to. And I was just imagining this week as they say, all rise as the judge walks in.

In a normal court. Can you imagine when God steps in? Is the universe just light? And the courtroom is in session. The judgment hand of God is going to fall.

What an awesome, life-changing, life-altering moment. But as you know, by then it's too late. But judgment has a cost.

Look at the price. Look at the price. The blood-stained cross.

Jesus' body. Look at the cross. Look at the altar.

Look at God. God said, the people are so sinful that you're going to have to bring in the blood of bulls and goats and rams and this gruesome task of cutting the neck and the blood that paid the price for sin temporarily. And the cross paid it permanently.

And we have to remind people that because God honors that. I feel His power and presence more at this portion of the sermon than I have at the beginning. Because this is the love of God.

How is that the love of God? God so loved the world. Now I want to say this right theologically and I haven't had time to flesh it out, but let me just say it to where it's not incorrect. Because the judgment of God actually fell upon Jesus.

It had to be satisfied. It had to be satisfied. That big word you sometimes read, propitiation.

It means He absorbed the wrath of God. It's absolutely amazing. And that's why it says, Jesus returns in judgment.

Did you know that? Everybody's got this nice view of Him. He's returning in judgment. The Gospel frees us of judgment and God poured out His judgment upon the cross.

All throughout human history, God would judge. And God wins, by the way. Doesn't He? I mean, you look back at Genesis and whenever Egypt learned about the judgment of God at midnight, the Assyrian army learned about the judgment of God.

Babylonians learned about the judgment of God. Jesus even said, the dead will judge you. That the preaching of Jonah, they even repented and yet a greater than Jonah is here and they will testify against you because you did not repent.

Jesus said, oh, Bethesda, oh, Chorazin, if you, if you, if the good works that were done in you were done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago. They're going to rise up in judgment against you. And at that point, there's no bribing, there's no tears, there's no talking your way out of it.

There is no talking your way out of this, folks. There's no good works that will save you. Once that judgment falls, there is no returning.

That's why the message of the Gospel is now, today when you hear His voice, harden not your heart. Today is a day of salvation. That's why they would go and they would go and Paul would go, King Agrippa, I would be to God that you would turn to Him.

Jesus would say, go out and preach repentance. Today is a day of salvation. There's an urgency about it because once that breath is taken, that last breath.

Did you know that, I don't know what your view is on this, but nearly all, all near death experiences talk about Jesus. I haven't read one yet where they came back and meant Allah and Buddha. Nope, never.

Have you? That should tell you something. Jesus is real. Life is eternal.

Judgment is certain. And maybe nobody at this service, but those listening, if you need to make that decision to repent and believe, I want to encourage you to do that today. Maybe there might be some here that need to make that decision.

And I've been in church a long time. I know there's a lot of people to play church. They come with their parents.

They think they're good. Or they come with their spouse. They say all the right things.

And they make a big mistake. They think that knowing about God is knowing Him. And it's not.

It's not the same thing. So the Bible is clear. Repent and believe.

And you will be saved. It is simply that simple.