Pressure Cooker Pt. 4 | Nate Ortiz | Radiant Life Church

So, um, we're so happy that you are here

for the final sermon series of Pressure

Cooker. Hopefully, you've been enjoying

this sermon series. You've been getting

some good stuff from it. And, uh, just

before we hop into the message, just

want to let you know we'll be in John

John 18 · chapter mention

chapter 18. We've been in in the book of

John here. So, if you want to take out

your phone or your Bible, get there.

But, um, Pastor Chris and Pastor Rachel,

they are on vacation with their family.

Uh, you know, Pastor Matt mentioned it

last week, but uh, Pastor Chris and

Pastor Rachel just celebrated 21 years

of marriage. Can we celebrate that this

morning? I mean, 21 years.

My goodness, that's that's just uh,

amazing and we honor them for that. U,

but we are here in our one big service.

So, I want to encourage you as well that

if you have not met someone this

morning, you say, you know, I've seen

this person all the time or I've never

met before. Meet someone new today.

Shake a hand, get a name. Right? This is

what our one big service is about. And

uh we are just going to get into the

word this morning. And so as I

mentioned, Pastor Chris and Pastor

Rachel on vacation, but I can almost

guarantee Pastor Dave that they're

watching right now. They're thankful.

Like I said, I feel like when they watch

online, I said it before, it's almost

like the baby monitor, you know? They

just want to see what's going on. I feel

like we're one step away where he's

going to have the, you know, like you

can like talk to your kids in your room,

like you hit the voice button, say, "Go

back to bed. Lay down, right?" I feel

like we're one step away from that.

Pastor Chris is just going to have it

like, "No, Nate, don't say that." Okay.

And so, but Pastor Chris, Pastor Rachel,

we love you. We miss you and can't wait

to see you back soon. But in John

John 18 · chapter mention

chapter 18, as we talk about pressure,

um, every time Pastor Chris say

pressure, I just had that song just, you

know, anyone else with me like under

pressure, right? Anyone else? Okay,

there's some people, some of you, you

know what I'm talking about. You still

want to raise your hand. That's fine.

But this is such a a sermon series that

we feel like we can all relate to. We've

all experienced pressure at different

times and you know pressure has a way of

attempting to rob our peace and I want

to be focusing on that today. You know

it can show up in many ways but

pressure shows up I believe when we are

faced with a truth. You know where does

pressure come from? And I feel like when

a truth really enters our life

pressure can begin to form around us.

Now, a low pressure example of this

would be something like this. You know,

people in your life who consistently run

late. Don't point them out. Don't text

them.

But you know who they are,

right? There are elements. Sometimes you

may work with them. They might show up

late. And they come up, they say, "I'm

so sorry I'm late." And they have a

coffee in their hand. And they're like,

"Oh, that's interesting. You have a

coffee in your hand, but you're also

late, right? There's a pressure that

sometimes can happen when you aren't

dealing with the truth. The truth is, if

you didn't stop for that coffee, you may

have made it on time, right? And and

there's things that you can begin to do

to avoid the pressure that you may feel.

One of the ways that I feel pressure in

my life, you want to see me fold, you

want to see me just crumble under

pressure. I know the truth, but I

crumble under the pressure is when I

have to pick up medicine for my

children.

at the pharmacy and they say, "When is

your child's birthday?" I'm like, "Oh my

gosh, hold on. I know this. Give me a

second." Like, it takes all all my brain

power. And the embarrassing part is when

I say it wrong and they have to look at

me and say, "No,

I got it now. Now I know it right." And

there could be these moments in our

lives where we feel this pressure and

when we have to deal with truth.

You know when we come face to face with

the truth a couple of outcomes can

happen. Our choices can reflect the

truth that we know. The second thing is

we can choose to ignore the truth or

thirdly you make someone else feel

accountable for the truth. So, a a

classic example of this would be your

choices reflecting the truth. We'll use

another low-level example. Sometimes

when you're driving your car, there's

lights that come up on the dashboard to

say, "Change your oil." Some people say,

"That's a nice suggestion. I'll do it

later." Right? But there's going to come

a point where you have to do those

things, right? You have to say, "You

know what? My oil light came on. I have

to get my oil changed." Right? Or you

could choose to ignore it, but it'll

only cause problems later. Or then you

can get to the place where you want to

make someone else feel accountable for

the truth. Where you say, "Well, it's

not my fault. It's their fault. I'm only

late because this person in front of me

was driving slow or I only didn't do

this because this person did this or

this person did this."

But we have to deal with pressure in our

lives even when it's difficult.

It would be reasonable to say that in

our life peace is something we desire.

Unless you say, "No, we actually like

chaos. to keep things spicy in our

family. Maybe that's you. But I think

it's reasonable to say we'd like peace.

It's something we desire. But pressure,

let me say this this morning, pressure

can uh tempt us to avoid truth to find a

shortcut to peace.

When we feel that truth that we have to

come face to face and we feel the

pressure about what it means, we say,

"How can I quickly get peace and just

bypass the truth of the situation?"

That's difficult.

When truth is in your life and facing

you and say, "I have to make choices

that reflect the truth that I know."

You could choose to ignore it.

You could choose to make someone else

accountable for it. Or you can say,

"What choices will I make that reflect

the truth that I have?"

So I'm going to read in John chap 18

29-40. We're going to read the whole

thing. It says, "Then g then they led

Jesus from Caiaphas into the ptorium.

And it was early and they themselves did

not enter the ptorium so that they would

not be defiled but might eat the

Passover. Therefore Pilate went out to

them and said, "What accusation do you

bring against this man?" They answered

and said to him, "If this man were not

an evildoer, we would not have delivered

him to you." So Pilate said to them,

"Take him yourselves and judge him

according to your law." The Jews said to

him, "We are not permitted to put anyone

to death to fulfill the word of Jesus

which he spoke," signifying but what

kind of death he was about to die.

Therefore, Pilate entered again into the

ptorium and summoned Jesus and said to

him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"

Jesus answered, "Are you saying this on

your own initiative? Or did others tell

you about me?" Pilate answered, "I am

not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the

chief priests delivered you to me? What

have you done?" Jesus answered, "My

kingdom is not of this world. If my

kingdom were of this world, then my

servants will be fighting so I would not

be handed over to the Jews. But as it

is, my kingdom is not of this realm."

Therefore, Pilate said to him, "So, you

are a king." Jesus answered, "You say

correctly that I am a king. For this I

have been born, and for this I have come

into the world to testify to the truth."

Everyone who is of the truth hears my

voice. Pilate said to him, "What is

truth?" And when he had said this, he

went out again to the Jews and said to

them, "I find no guilt in him, but you

have a custom that I release someone for

you at the Passover. Do you wish them

what that I release for you, the king of

the Jews?" So they cried out again,

saying, "Not this man, but Barabbus."

Now Barabbus was a robber.

I want to get to my first point this

morning, that the peace you seek is only

as stable as the truth underneath it.

You want to find peace in your life, but

you have to deal with certain truths in

your life. In this story, Pilate and

Jesus are coming face to face with a

truth that is building pressure for

them. The pressure Pilate felt was that

Pilate needed Jesus to say that he was

not a king or that his kingdom was no

threat to Rome. Pilate is doing all the

gymnastics just to say, "Please let me

off the hook. Someone needs to do

something." Pilate was trying to ignore

dealing with the truth while holding on

to the comfort of his position.

Maybe some of you in this room have

found yourself that place in life where

you're trying to hold on to the comforts

that you have while ignoring the truth

or making someone else responsible for

it. You know, for Pilate, a Roman

governor who stirred unnecessary unrest

could be let go from his position. This

caused pressure for Pilate.

Jesus,

right? We said, "Well, Jesus, Jesus is

always cool. I mean, he never felt the

pressure, right?" But Jesus was fully

God and he was fully man. This is Jesus

who was praying in the garden saying,

"God, if there's any other way possible,

please let this cup pass from me, but

not my will, your will be done."

It was difficult. But Jesus in this

moment, he's being asked by Pilate if he

was a king of the Jews. And as a crowd

is also asking for him to be put to

death. I would imagine there were

disciples or others who were close to

Jesus wanting Jesus to lay the whole

truth out Jesus. We've seen you do

amazing things. I mean like listen I

know if I was a disciple which I wasn't

for good reason. I would be like Jesus

come on let him know what's up. Do do

what you do. You are the king. You are

the one. Like let's go. And then Jesus

be like Nate get behind me. I'm like

okay got it. check,

right? Jesus maybe felt pressure from

people. I mean, like, defend yourself,

Jesus. Say something.

But Jesus knew

that it was not his time yet.

But he was operating the truth that he

had from the father. So he stood there

in a boldness and says, "I know whom I

serve. I know who my father is. and I

know what he has sent me to do.

He stood upon that truth.

Now in this story, right, there's two

different perspectives of peace in the

face of truth,

right? Culture would say, "Defend

yourself. Control the narrative. Get

ahead of this." You know, for Pilot

saying, "Control the narrative. Don't

don't lose your position."

Right? How can you massage this to make

you look like the good guy?

For Jesus, it was to trust the father

with your reputation. That's what Jesus

was doing. Say, I father, I trust you

with my reputation.

It's hard to stand in truth.

It's hard to say, "Look, I I I know the

truth, but I feel like people aren't

getting it." or I feel like there's a

lot of pressure that's building up and

if I if I feel like if I just compromise

in this one area or if I just did this

the the the pressure would go away and I

would have peace.

I had a preacher tell me one time he

said the truth is a truth whether you

shout it or whisper it

or if you completely ignore it it's

still the truth.

So you can live your life saying, "I

don't receive that part of the truth."

But guess what? The word of God is the

truth. And the truth is the truth.

So you can try to delay it,

try to massage it so it fits your life,

but you will have to be accountable

before God what you did with the truth.

Pilate had no peace because his

foundation was in politics.

say, "I need to keep my position of

power. I can't have people getting out

of control, getting rowdy. So, how do I

figure this out?" Jesus had and for

Pilate, excuse me, he had this perfect

peace uh Jesus had this perfect peace

because his foundation was purpose and

he proved it by giving everything he had

so that all of us can have relationship

with the father.

Jesus knew his purpose. Pilate was

trying to hold on to positions and power

and control where Jesus said, "I will

gladly lay down my life so that others

can live a full life in God." In our

attempts to be in control

or loving, we end up compromising the

truth.

Pilate was there, right? We feel this

pressure. And what do we want to do in

our human nature? Say, "How can I

control the situation so I can have

peace?

How can I control the narrative that I

don't look like I have issues?

People can do it in relationships. They

do it in their family. Like, I'm the

normal one. They're the crazy ones.

Everyone knows it,

right?

And we begin to have this mentality that

says, "Well, I will control it. I will

manipulate to how it serves me. But when

you do that, you end up compromising the

truth to keep peace because of the

pressure it creates.

Sometimes we do it in our marriages

where how can I control the situation

and ignore the truth.

Sometimes we do it

with relationships in our lives, people

we work with or people we are connected

to.

say I I I don't like the pressure that

this is creating in my life.

How can I control it?

And our and when we do that,

it only creates the illusion of peace.

We feel like the more control I have,

the more I can create peace.

The more people do what I say, the more

I can have peace. Don't we believe that

lie that says if everyone just did what

I need them to do, there'd be no

problems.

None.

I mean, I you know, sometimes we walk

around say, "God, I'm just so smart. I'm

so anointed. People just

the left lane is if you're going fast.

If you're not, scoot over and I wouldn't

be late

if people just did what I needed them to

do."

But the funny thing is, right, God is

looking at us and saying the same thing.

If you just do what I'm asking you to do

when you read the word of God, it'll

show you what to do. I saw a funny meme.

It said, "I want to hear God speak to

me." And the person said, "Read your

Bible." They said, "No, no, no, no, no.

I mean, I want to hear him audibly speak

to me." They said, "Read it out loud.

The Bible will guide you

in the moments of pressure to be your

your guard rails to say, "Listen, Lord,

I need you.

I need your truth even when it feels

uncomfortable, even when pressure is

building up."

In John chapter 18, I want to just read

John 18 · chapter mention

and starting in verse 29. It says, ' So

Pilate went outside to them and

said,"What accusation do you bring

against this man?" They answered him,

"If this man were not doing evil, we

would not have delivered him over to

you." Pilate said to them, "Take him

yourselves and judge him by your own

law." The Jews said to him, "It is not

law for us to put anyone to death." This

was fulfilled the word that Jesus had

spoken to show by what kind of death he

was going to die.

The truth was Jesus had done no wrong.

And pressure was building for someone to

do something. The crowd wanted Jesus to

be punished.

Pilate saying, "I don't find anything

wrong with this guy. You do something."

And there's Jesus

knowing the truth

and standing there

trusting God.

I want to ask you this morning,

how stable is the truth that you are

building your life on.

You know, we've heard it said many

times, the Bible in our faith is not a

buffet where we just take the things we

like, right? Oh, I'll take a little bit

of that. I'll take a little bit of that.

Oh, oh, grace, mercy, yes. Forgiveness.

Gh. No, no, no thanks.

People have done wrong to me, right?

love your enemies.

But what does it look like when you do

love your enemies?

The people who just push all the

buttons. Like if you've seen Elf on the

Elevator, the movie Elf, when he just

hits all the buttons on the elevator,

like who does that for you? And they

just they don't have to do anything.

They're like, "Hey, how you doing?"

You're like, "Oh, there they go. Just

saying hi." Oh my gosh. You hear that

tone?

Up to something. I can't stand it.

I thought it was only me. That's good.

What does it look like when pressure

begins to build in your life? We've all

been there where things are hard.

There's not a reason why they're

necessarily hard.

But have you ever gone through a stretch

of life where it just seems like there's

continually things that are going wrong

and you're almost your mindset is almost

of course this is going wrong.

Where are you, Jesus? Because you're

certainly not here

and you can almost have that mentality.

Or do we say, "Lord, what are you

showing me? What are you doing in my

life? Am I finding myself going to the

word? Am I finding myself talking to

godly people who are speaking life into

me and encouraging me? Am I finding

myself in a place of prayer? Instead of

just complaining about a problem, am I

praying about a problem?" Think about

how many times I'm convicted myself. The

times we say there's all these things

that are going on in my mind. I feel

like if I can control this, if I can

control this, if I can figure this out

and God is saying there's nothing to

figure out. You need to submit

everything to to me at my feet and you

need to begin to pray over things and

watch me work.

It makes me think of, you know, when

when you have family gatherings and I

know for for whoever is to cook in the

house, right? When the food starts

smelling good and and things are

happening, right, it it like like like

moths to the light, people start coming

to the kitchen. Ooh, what's that? Ooh,

let me just And right, whoever's cooking

says, "Get out of here. I'm not done

cooking yet. It's not done yet. Get

Sometimes we do that with God where we

say, "God, let just give it back to me.

I can fix it." God saying, "Let me work.

I know there's pressure building and it

makes you feel uncomfortable,

but you controlling the situation isn't

going to bring peace,

but learning how to trust God, basing

your life upon his truth is what's going

to bring peace.

My second point this morning is that

embrace truth quickly. Even though

pressure releases slowly,

we must embrace truth quickly.

We often say, "I want to embrace this

truth and I hope something happens

quickly." I can tell you the most

practical example that we could think of

is if you've ever started working out,

you say, "Man, I want to lose weight. I

want to do this." And you work out for

one day and you feel like death.

You're like, "This is not from God."

Gasping for air, sweating. You're like,

you know, you're like dizzy. You're

like, "Oh my gosh, what's happening?"

Right?

And then you feel like, man, as as close

as I felt to death, I want to feel like

there's something that feels better. I

want to feel like I put on my jeans and

like, you know, or put on my dress pants

and and feel like I can fit in them,

right?

And sometimes you got to call for

backup. Like get in here. I need your

help.

Jesus, come quickly. Right? It's like

you're trying to get it. You're trying

to make things happen because you want

to see these results.

But you have to embrace truth quickly.

says, "If I want to get to the place

where I want to be, I have to embrace

the truth that says I can't be eating

all that I want to eat. I have to make

wise choices.

Even though the pressure is not released

right away, even though that first day I

don't feel great, and that second day, I

still don't feel great working out.

I know the truth is if I continue doing

this, I'm going to see the results I've

been striving for."

You know, if we're honest, pressure

builds when we delay decisions.

We don't want to be honest with

ourselves because it may require us to

change or deal with issues we've been

battling in private.

When I was writing this, I thought,

isn't that so true?

Where we don't want to be honest with

ourselves.

So, why do I feel this pressure? And

maybe there's things that you have to

embrace as truth that you haven't fully

embraced.

You've been delaying it.

You're saying, "It's too hard.

It's too hard to gather."

And I want to encourage you this morning

when you embrace truth even about

yourself. When you read the word of God

and it holds up the smear to your life,

you say, "This is a hard truth for me to

grasp because I have to change."

Jesus is gracious and he will walk with

you through those changes.

He doesn't show us the truth to say how

terrible you are, how far away you are

from him,

but he comes alongside you to help you.

But the quicker we embrace truth, it

will ultimately give us peace. Because

I'd like to remind us this morning that

indecision is still a decision.

That when we wait and we delay and we

say, "I I I know I have to I I have to

get the open house or I know I have to

to be a part of things at the church. I

know I have to do these things and I I

know I should work on this in my

marriage or I know I should work on this

on me." And we delay and we feel like

one day it's going to happen. One day

it's going to happen. When I was uh in

high school, I remember, you know, I

would tell my mom I you know, we you

know, talk and I'm like, "Yeah, I'm

going to start I'm going to start

working out. you know, I'm just eating,

you know, eating this today, but Monday,

Monday is my day. I'm going to work out.

And you know what she told me? She said,

"Nate, some sometimes Monday never comes

for you."

I said, "First of all, that's offensive.

Second of all, there's some truth to

that."

And isn't that true for us as believers

sometimes?

I I'm going to change my life. I'm going

to make this change in my life as soon

as this happens. I I'm going to start,

you know, Pastor Matt and Pastor Chris,

they talk about, you know, giving and

and and and you know, tithing and, you

know, when I when I make this much, I'm

going to do this. And my dad used to

tell me the same thing when I was a kid.

You know, I'd get a dollar. He's like,

"It's going to burn a hole in your

pocket, Nate." And I'm like, "Oh, you

know, that that's all right." You know,

and and he would say, "Nate, if you

can't be faithful in the little, you

won't be faithful in much. If we can't

deal with this the truth that God is

asking us to deal with now, how can we

ask and trust him for so much more?

You know, Pilate, I'm sure he heard

about Jesus,

heard about who he was and all the

things that were going on. I'm sure

Pilate was just trying to say, "Well,

it's not it's not in front of me, so I'm

not going to deal with it."

But now he was in a spot where it was in

front of him

and he had to deal with the truth. Jesus

embraced the truth continuously. You

know, this is why he famously preached,

"If you want to follow me, deny

yourself. Pick up your cross and follow

me." Right? Luke 9:23.

Luke 9:23

You want to follow Jesus, you want to

follow him, deny yourself, pick up your

cross daily.

That doesn't sound fun. Is there another

way? Is there another package I can sign

up for?

But Jesus said it, but he also knew he

was going to walk it out.

And to live in that place of truth,

he embraced it daily, knowing that

everything he did was leading to this

moment. And for us, every day that we

live, every day we are with our family,

every day we are with our neighbors,

every day we are in our schools, every

day we're in our workplace, we have the

opportunity to embrace truth in our

lives that says, God, it doesn't matter

what someone else does. It doesn't

matter how people try to come against me

because I know you are for me. And if

God is for me, who could be against me?

Though even, you know, no weapon against

me shall prosper, right? It may form,

but it will not prosper. And sometimes

we have to tell oursel that truth every

single day to remind ourselves who we

serve

and stand upon that truth that we can

say the enemy might try to come at your

family, might try to come at loved ones

and might try to come at your health but

you have to say enemy stand back. I know

who I serve and I know that there is

purpose in all that I'm walking through

and I will trust God with every single

day of my life. I will not try to

control it. I would not try to take it

back from God. But every day is a gift

from God and I will give it back to the

one who is faithful.

Cuz I want to hear you. I want you to

hear me this morning. I'm not saying I

don't want you to mistake that. I'm just

saying you know trying to bypass your

real struggles that you have going on in

life. Life is hard and it is difficult.

But I want to encourage you to stand on

the truth of God's word. Stand on his

promises.

You know, there's a fa a phrase I used

to hear a lot when I was growing up in

different circles where the phrase was

perception is reality. How many of you

have ever heard that phrase before?

Right? You say perception is reality.

It's if that's how they view it. And I

totally didn't love that statement. But

this is what I would say. Perception is

reality until truth is revealed.

So there are times you could walk this

life and you can say, "I don't believe

that. That's not how my life is and I

don't have to receive that and I don't

agree with that."

But guess what?

Your perception is reality until the

truth is revealed to you.

And you have a responsibility to then

respond to it.

Jesus understood there was a a a a time

and a place for truth to be communicated

with love.

For Jesus that time would come through

his death, burial, and resurrection. He

stood there in front of Pilate. He stood

there in front of his disciples. He

stood there in front of a crowd that

wanted him dead saying, "I this all of

this that is going on around me, I don't

have to perform for anyone. I don't have

to prove anything to everyone because I

am operating in the truth that it came

from God

even when pressure is building up.

Do you know how hard that is

where people who don't serve the Lord

look at your situation and say

you're serving God? Why? Look at your

life.

You're struggling to make ends meet.

You have this going on in your life.

This bad thing happened.

But imagine when you could stand on

truth and saying, "I understand all

these things are happening, but I serve

a God who is faithful. I serve a God who

is loving.

Even when pressure is building up,

my prayer is that even when pressure is

building up,

even when I fall short, because we all

fall short. We all mess it up.

There are times when our our our

faith is a little bit low, but I want to

live my life that people say, "You know

what? That Nate Ortiz, he messes up a

lot of things, but he really does love

Jesus."

And I can get down with that.

I don't want to fold to pressure. I

don't want to fold to what people think,

but I want to live my life to honor God.

You know, I believe there is a

maturation period for truth growing deep

roots in our life.

Philippians chapter 2:12, it says, "Work

out your salvation with fear and

trembling

every day. May we be people who could

work out our salvation that we don't let

pressure rob our peace." You know, I

received the truth of Christ when I was

young, but had yet to walk in the full

maturity of Christ.

Truth received as salvation must be

worked out daily in our life.

Daily.

It doesn't happen because you received

Christ a long time ago and you say,

"Woo, all right. I'm good to go. Never

had no trials, no tribulations. I just

get to live my life."

But you have to work at it daily.

And when a truth, and I know it happens.

I know when I was, you know, younger and

I would give a truth or a truth be given

to me, sometimes I didn't even

understand the fullness of it.

Or I know when I would talk to teenager,

I worked with teenagers for good part of

my ministry career and I would talk to a

teenager and I would give them a truth.

They'd be like,

because they didn't have the maturity to

really grab a hold of that truth. It

would always happen, you know, a a youth

would come into to youth service and

say, "Pastor Nate, I got a boyfriend."

I was like, "Oh, geez.

Tell me about them. What do you like

about them? They're funny. Y'all don't

know no one else that's funny." No, it's

passionate. Stop. They're They're cute.

Y'all know no one else that's cute.

And I would get to this point of getting

the truth is that your relationship

can't be defined by physical things.

best be defined by who they are in

Christ. And I'd go into this whole long

explanation.

But sometimes I would tell them, you

don't even need to be in a relationship.

Okay? You can't like you are not ready

for it.

But they couldn't grab that truth. But

there would be times where they get

older and say, "Pastor Nate, thank you."

I'm like, "I know. I know.

I just saved you years of marriage

counseling.

You got caught up in that summer love

that my goodness. Okay, come on.

The truth that we have, let it take deep

roots in our hearts this morning.

Truth doesn't change, but our capacity

to walk in it does.

We could talk about love. We could talk

about forgiveness. We could talk about

peace,

but it's amazing the older you get and

you walk with God, how deep the roots

become. You say, "I understand God's

peace when he talks about it cuz I've

gone through some things. I lived some

life." You ever been around some people

where they tell their testimony and

you're like, "Oh my gosh, I'm I'm like

nothing. I'm not standing next to you in

heaven when we get there." When you

start like, "Yo, sharing the stories and

like you got a way better story than I

do, right?" But they have a piece to

learn to trust God because they've

walked through some things.

You know, Pilate,

you know, he questions Jesus claim of

truth.

Are you the king of the Jews?

Jesus refuses the political framework

and defines his kingdom on his own

terms. He says, "My kingdom is not of

this world."

For Pilate, this was this was hard for

him to to grasp his mind around. And

he's like, I I just need you to land

land on something here. I mean, are

like, are you are you not? And and and

they kind of get to this place, this

like little bit of an impass because

Pilot's not embracing the full truth of

what's going on, that Jesus is really

who he says he is. And if he is really

who he says he is, then Pilot, you need

to make some choices based upon that.

But Pilot's like, can I get this crowd

to say to to handle Jesus, or can I get

just Jesus to say something out of line

that makes me have to respond to this?

But Pilate has to make this decision.

But pressure is mounting for him.

Embracing truth is hard. Not because

it's always hidden, but because pressure

makes it hard to act on what you already

see.

It's hard,

right? Pressure in our lives can make it

hard to see the truth.

It can make it hard to remember the

truth.

But I want to encourage you this

morning, church, in my final point, that

truth always has the final word. Always.

Always.

It may not be when we want it to be. It

may not be in our timing, but truth

always has the final word.

You need to remind yourselves of that

this morning.

I say it all the time. We can hustle

people around us.

We can hustle our pastors, but you can't

hustle God. God knows what's in your

heart.

God knows.

God knows your innermost thoughts.

He knows.

That's why God wants us to be honest

before him.

God doesn't want us to come when we try

to deal with things in our lives and

say, "Well, Lord, I'm just going to use

some fancy language and try to, you

know, you know, smoo God and try to No,

no, no. God knows what's in your heart."

And when we come face to face with

truth, I believe the worst choice we can

make is making someone else hold the

truth instead of ourselves. I believe

it's one of the main reasons that people

can get stuck in their faith.

You know, you ignore the truth, right?

there's at least opportunity where you

ignore it, but there there's opportunity

where you might things might fall apart.

You say, "Lord, I'm coming back to you."

But to make someone else responsible for

the truth, really what you're saying is,

I want to make someone else responsible

so I don't have to be accountable.

So, I don't follow Jesus because this

person hurt me. I don't follow Jesus

because this church did this. I don't

follow Jesus because I saw this. But at

the end of the day, we will all stand

before God and have to give an account

of our lives.

And we live in a time where where you

can get access to B, you know, the

Bible. I mean, listen, some of you don't

even understand how blessed you are to

live in a time where you could take out

your phone and you could have any

translation.

When I was growing up, if you didn't

have your physical Bible in church, they

pointed you to the back of the room. It

was typically a cardboard box with

Bibles in there and they're like all

King James version.

And some of you are laughing. It's like,

"Oh yeah, try reading that." You're

like, "Hold on, wait, what's this word?"

I mean,

but we live in a day where you can pull

up sermons on your phone and all these

kind of things and there's so much

access,

but there needs to be the ability. You

can listen to all the podcasts you want.

You can listen to all the sermons you

want. You could you could visit anyone's

church from the comfort of your home

today. But there is something about when

you embrace the truth that says, "What

does this mean for me as a follower of

Jesus Christ?" We have to move from the

place of just receiving information,

receiving information, receiving

information. Because we feel like if I

have the most information, I can control

situations.

But sometimes we have to say, "God, I'm

trusting you with my peace. I'm trusting

you to have the final word."

We have to be accountable for what we do

with the truth. Pilate was looking for

someone else to blame or or or or to

point to

versus taking ownership of the truth.

Still in John chapter 18 37-40

John 18 · chapter mention

says then Pilate said to him so you are

a king. Jesus answered you say that I am

a king. For this purpose I was born or

for this purpose I have come into the

world to bear witness to the truth.

Everyone who is of the truth listens to

my voice. Pilate said to him what is

truth? After he had said this, he went

back outside to the Jews and told them,

"I find no guilt in him, but you have a

custom I should release one man for you

at the Passover. So, do you want me to

release to you the king of the Jews?"

They cried out again, "Not this man, but

Barabbus." Now, Barabus was a robber.

Up until the last minute, Pilate is

trying to not

deal with the pressure.

He say, "Okay, listen. I don't find no

guilt in him, but maybe if I could place

Jesus against something even worse,

maybe the people would then make the

decision."

And guess what? They said, "Nope.

We want Jesus to be punished,

give us Barabus."

And in our lives,

we cannot be taking these shortcuts to

get to peace. We cannot just

ignore it.

I want to ask the worship team if they

can come up.

And I want to say this, church, as we

end this pressure cooker series.

I just want to end today's service a

little bit different.

As I was preparing for this sermon,

I began to think about there are some

truths I believe this morning that we

need to grab a hold of. And it may not

be for you specifically.

It might be for someone you love, a

family member, someone, and it's causing

pressure. And pressure is uncomfortable,

right? I'm talking about that pressure

where you walk into a situation, you

walk into a room, and you feel like that

pressure is just there.

the type of pressure that says I I feel

like I can't even start a conversation

with this person or I can't even begin

to talk about this subject or I feel

like I can't even pray about this

because the pressure feels so great it

feels like what's really going to change

and we say well if it's going to change

it'll be on them or if it's if it's

going to happen it's going to happen in

in another way

and we begin to

stop praying

we begin to say, "Well, I'm just going

to seek peace even though I'm

compromising the truth."

And for Jesus,

he's in this moment

knowing that Pilot's feeling pressure,

knowing that pressure is going all

around.

And I love when Pilate asks him, "What

is truth?

Right? It's pilot literally asked the

question, right? Tell me what is truth?

And some of us this morning say, what

what what is a truth? Even for you, I

ask this question. What is truth that

you need to embrace this morning that

you've been pushing away or keeping at a

distance?

Jesus tells him, he says, "I am a I am a

king, but my kingdom is not of this

world."

And I believe this morning

that we need to embrace Jesus as the

king of this world, the king of your

life, the king of my life.

Not just something we do on a Sunday.

You want peace. You want real peace.

Embrace truth even when it doesn't make

sense.

Even when the outcome is different than

you thought it should be.

See, Pilate, he chose the crowd over the

conviction that he felt in his heart.

I can tell you peace collapses when

truth becomes negotiable.

Right? We just want to keep the peace.

We don't want to upset people. We don't

want to create any riffs,

but I don't think that's what God is

asking us to do. I think God is asking

to embrace his truth

so we can find true peace.

Truth always has the final word. You can

delay it. You can ignore it.

But when you receive the truth,

you begin to see things change in your

life. Do you believe prayer matters or

do you only do it when you're in a jame?

Do you pray for a little bit? You say,

"Well, God hasn't done anything. He's

not going to do it."

Jesus, he knew

that he was going to have the final word

when he was on that cross.

and he laid down his life for you and

for me

that in 2026

we can have relationship with the father

and that the pressure that this world

will try to put on us

to walk away from God

to shy away from difficult conversations

and listen I'm not talking about being

rude I'm not talking about,

you know, at the dinner table. It's

like, hey, pass the gravy. Hey, let's

talk politics.

Hey, can I have another refill? Let's

talk about your life, right? No, no, no,

no, no.

But to live your life in a truth that

says, I'm not compromising.

I'm not looking for shortcuts to peace.

If we could stand to our feet this

morning if you're able and willing.

I want to end just today a little bit

different. I'm going to ask our prayer

team if if you can come up front.

But I just want if you can in this room

just every head bowed, every eye closed.

This morning, we're going to give an

opportunity not just for people to come

up for prayer,

but I want to give an opportunity for

people this morning to embrace truth in

maybe a way you haven't done before.

I think it's one thing to sit

or or stand in our rows and say, "Yeah,

I agree with what the word of God is

saying.

But maybe today, just maybe,

God's asking you, he's going to ask you

to come to this altar, just stand before

God and say, "God, there's some truth

that I I need to embrace. Things are not

going well in my life. Things are a

struggle. Things are a challenge for me

right now, and it's hard for me to

embrace. I I feel so much pressure right

now.

Some of it might be just isolated in

private that you're feeling this

pressure. Some of it might be public.

Some of this pressure might be causing

attention in your family,

but I believe that God wants you to

embrace truth this morning.

Listen, peace. You want peace. Peace is

produced in the presence of truth, not

in the absence of pressure.

I'd like to tell you this morning as you

think about your life.

You're avoiding truth.

If you avoid truth this morning, it's

really what you're saying. It's a form

of self-preservation.

If I don't, if I don't address this

truth, I don't have to deal with it. I'm

fine living my life this way. It's

worked for me this far.

Don't try to control your situation.

surrender it to God this morning.

The last two things I'd like to say

before we open up these altars

that the truth only hurts when you're

living a lie

this morning. God doesn't want you to

hide. He doesn't want you to live in

this place of pressure. But he wants you

to be honest this morning. He wants to

give you peace. And peace doesn't happen

when there's just no pressure. But peace

in me saying, "God, I choose you. I

don't want to live a lie.

I want to live the truth even when it's

hard, even when it's difficult."

My last question

before we open these altars

is, what truth do you need to embrace

today?

Maybe you need healing in your marriage.

Maybe you need healing things in your

own life and it's causing pressure. It's

causing a tension because you're not

dealing with it. You say, "I'm just

trying to get through the pressure." And

sometimes when we look to avoid the

pressure, it comes up in unhealthy ways.

Don't justify it.

Embrace truth this morning.

So right now, as the worship team leads

us in a song, I want to give a moment.

If you're in this room and there's some

truth that you need to embrace

because you're just dealing with so much

pressure, there's people at the altar

here that want to pray for you.

But as the worship team start singing,

I'd also ask this in this room if you'd

be bold enough.

Just come down to the altar this

morning. No one has to pray for you, but

come down to the altar. Surrender

yourself before God saying, "God, I want

your peace this morning."

and let the Lord speak to you.

Father, have your way. Have your way in

our lives, Jesus.

We want your peace. We don't want

control.

We don't want shortcuts, God.

We want your peace and your truth.

Amen. These altars are open. The worship

team is going to lead us. come up

forward for prayer. If you're bold

enough, come out to the altar. Let's

fill this altar out and worship God

together.

I just want to speak the name of Jesus

over every heart and every mind.

Cuz I know there is peace within your

presence.

I speak Jesus.

I just want to speak the name of Jesus.

Till every dark addiction starts to

break.

Declaring there is hope and there is

free.

My sweet Jesus,

your name is power,

your name is healing,

your name is life.

Break every stronghold.

Shine through the shadows

for light.

I just want to speak the name of Jesus.

Over fear and all anxiety.

To every soul counted by depression.

I speak Jesus.

Your name is power.

Your name is healing.

Your name is love.

Break every stronghold.

Shine through the shadow.

Your name,

your name is power.

Your name is he.

Your name is

break every style.

Shout Jesus from the mountains and Jesus

in the streets.

Jesus in the darkness. over every enemy.

Jesus for my family. I speak the holy

name.

Jesus.

Oh,

shout Jesus from the mountains and Jesus

in the streets.

Jesus in the darkness over the enemy.

Jesus

Jesus.

Your name is

Your

Break.

Your name.

Your name is God.

Your name is Jes.

Your name is

Break every

break every st.

I just want to speak the name of Jesus

over every heart and every mind.

Cuz I know there is peace within Jesus.

I speak Jesus.

We're going to continue just worshiping,

but we're going to close out service

here and

want to leave these altars open. Maybe

God's speaking something to you and

needs just more time with Jesus.

But I want to just speak encouragement

to everyone

that life can be difficult. It can be

challenging in many different regards.

Sometimes we have more questions than we

have answers.

But I want to encourage you. In the

middle of the pressure, in the middle of

the pressing,

Jesus is there.

His peace is available.

Don't look for the easy way out to

release the pressure,

but trust God in the middle of it.

He is faithful. He is loving. He is

kind. He's not looking to shame you or

say, "Be more. Do more. Be better.

But in the middle of the situation that

you're going through, he wants to be

with you and near you."

So, I just want to pray to close out our

service. And I'm going to ask the

worship team if you need to continue

just playing. You can stay, come up

front if you want prayer.

But we're just going to pray

that God would help us, help you, help

me to embrace the truth of his word

because we all need it.

And I'd like to say this, and this is

why I believe strongly and deeply in the

local church.

Because when you feel like you need

encouragement in life,

I can tell you the times where I felt at

my lowest and someone just comes to me

and says, "Man of God, God has great

things for you." Say, "I feel like I

just want to fall over and be done with

the day, be done with the week, be done

with this month, or you've made a

terrible mistake." And someone says,

"Lift up your head. God loves you." You

say, "How could he love you?"

He does.

And when we come together in these

atmospheres,

get some people around you. Speak life

into you.

Speak encouragement to you in the middle

of your pressure situation.

Father, we come to you in prayer.

Lord, as people who don't have it

figured out, Lord, our humanity often

gets in the way of Lord, the work that

you want to do in in our lives. And

Father, we thank you that even our our

worst moments or even in our best days,

Lord, you are still present. You are

consistent.

Father, we just pray, Lord, that we

would seek your truth in the middle of

pressure.

We would hold on to it with everything

that we have. Even when our

circumstances or situations make us feel

different, we hold on to your truth.

Even when people don't understand it or

people might ridicule it, may we hold on

tightly

with everything that we have.

Father, may your peace precede

everything that we do.

We love you, Jesus. We thank you for all

that you're doing in our lives and here

in life. But Lord, let not just stay

here. But when we go home, may your Holy

Spirit be in our mind. What truth do we

need to grab a hold of? What things are

you asking us to deal with

so we can receive peace in a greater

way, in a greater measure. Father, we

love you. We thank you. Your holy name

we pray. Amen. And amen. Hey, can we get

give God praise this morning?

And the worship team is going to

continue to play, but we're going to

dismiss you here. But Pastor Chris is

watching and I know if I don't if we

don't say it, he's going to be upset.

So, we got to say it. You know, if you

know it, you can say it together. Be

careful what you watch. Be careful what

you listen to. Be careful what you talk

about. Savor the presence of Jesus. Hey,

we love you and we'll see you next week.