well as they do, um, uh, outreaches in the community. And so hopefully one day we can gather a team and we can actually go to Haiti ourselves and partner with them and serve in the local villages. And I think if there's any, uh, country that we hear of often times, there's just the tragedy that's happened there and there's devastation. It's Haiti.
And so we're really grateful to have a partnership with Mission Affable. So I'm pumped about that. I thank you guys so much for your just your sacrificial giving, um, towards the church so that we can bless them and keep them there working. I'm in Haiti.
All right. We have your Bibles open up to Matthew 26, Matthew chapter 26. Uh, if you are just jumping in, we are in a series called Passion Week. Uh, where we are going to be looking at just the week of leading up to Jesus's, uh, crucifixion and resurrection.
And we'll talk about that resurrection on Easter Sunday, which is on April Fool's Day, by the way, April 1st is, uh, Easter. So I'm sure there's going to be some memes on the internet or something. Um, about that. But, uh, we'll talk about the resurrection then and just let you guys know, right after this series, we're going to be jumping into a relationship series.
We're going to look at, uh, we're calling it hashtag goals. So we'll look at like hashtag single goals, hashtag dating goals, hashtag marriage goals, all that kind of stuff. That's going to be great. Um, but we're in the series called Passion Last Week, we talked about really the few hours leading up to Jesus's, um, resurrects, or Jesus's, uh, crucifixion.
And we started with the Lord's Supper and Matthew, well, in John 13, but we ended up in Matthew chapter 26. And when we talked about how Jesus who has all things underneath his feet, who has all the power decides to wash his disciples feet instead and in a show of great humility. And he encouraged us to go and do the same and to serve others as Jesus has served us. And now Jesus after this Lord's Supper, after he tells the disciples, Hey, one person from around this table is going to betray me.
One person is going to, uh, turn me into the Roman officials and, uh, then another person's going to deny me three times. And he's telling all this at this, at this dinner table. And then they are arguing about who's not going to do it. Who's going to do it?
Who's the best? And then Jesus finally says, you know what? It's time to go and just pray. And so he asks the 11 disciples because Judas is gone.
He has gone to betray Jesus. Um, so Jesus and 11 disciples go to what they call the garden of Yosemite. Now I've entitled this message pressed from all sides or pressured, um, primarily because what Jesus is going to go through in this garden, he's going to feel pressed. He's going to feel burdened.
I don't know if you've ever felt that way. Um, I know that I, for all you young ins, you guys know the band queen. I hope you do. Okay.
They had a song called under pressure. You guys remember that under pressure? Yeah. Right.
Um, and I started looking at statistics of people who feel pressure. Did you know that in 2015, 77% of Americans said they felt strong pressure in that it actually stopped them from doing something they normally would do, because that's how much pressure and, um, they felt in life. But what was more important was not that statistic, but it was this, that 33% said that that pressure led to massive negative influences in their life. So they ruined relationships because of that pressure.
Their marriages were suffering because of that pressure. Their relationships with their friends were ruined because of all the pressure. They lost their job because they snapped at work because of the pressure. All these different things that they had, some massive negative impact.
And so, um, I think what we can look here today is, is, is see Jesus being pressed from all sides. And I think it's going to help us to understand what we should do when we feel pressured, but it's also what we're going to be able to see is how the son of God. We're going to see the greatest example of his humanity. The Jesus is both God and his both man.
He's divine. He's a perfect sacrifice. And in this moment in the garden, you do see him being divinely, he says, I could call down thousands of angels here and get out of the situation. But he says, I'm not going to do that.
And then on the flip side, you see Jesus saying, God, if you could take this cup away from me, you see the humanity, you see the struggle. And so I think this is a beautiful example of Jesus that we're about to look at. So if you have your Bible's Matthew chapter 26, we're going to start reading in verse 36. And we'll just take this piece by piece since we're going to be going through, uh, quite a bit.
Then Jesus came with them to a place called, guess, seminy. And he told the disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray, taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. That's James and John. He began to be sorrowful and troubled.
And he said to them, I am deeply grieved to the point of death, remain here and stay awake with me. Let's just stop there. What should I do when I am pressed? First thing is this, is that you need to surround yourself with praying friends.
Yes, seminy actually, the word, gizemy, actually means oil press. What's supposed to be shown here is that what Jesus is about to go through is significant pressing. It's a pressure that's building upon him. And he's doing it in a place that they use to stomp on, right?
All of those and all that kind of other stuff to make different types of oil. Just think about the, the, the mental picture here. Jesus is going to a place that is known for excruciating pressure. And this is where he decides to go and pray.
Now a lot of people think that he was by himself. We normally get that from the media. You ever seen the movie, The Passion of the Christ, you know, Jesus is by himself, but actually there's probably thousands of like drunk Galileans around him. This is where everyone would have put up their tents for the fast, uh, for the Passover feast that week.
And so Jesus is with people, but even though there's people around him, he seems to find a quiet little corner and he says, you know, I come here and wait with me. Now I love this because you see Jesus, who is the son of God, asking his friends to stay there with him. I think sometimes when we feel pressured in life, when we know what's about to happen, all the devastating things that are in our life, sometimes our first inclination is not to actually go to our friends or our family and surround ourselves with people who can pray for us and be there for us. Sometimes we actually try to get away from them.
We build up barriers and we don't want to, you know, burden other people with the stuff that we're going through. The problem is if Jesus needed his friends, they didn't do a good job, but if he needed, but he didn't ask them to do it. If Jesus needed his friends to be there for him and what he gets at her family, then how do we get off thinking that we can't, that we can live this life without other people? When we feel pressured, when we feel like we are just at which end, the first thing, well, not the first thing, but the second thing that we should probably do is go to our friends, family, but not the ones that are going to have his bad advice, right?
We want the ones that are going to have his good advice. I knew a girl one time, she loves giving advice. You guys have friends like that? We love getting advice.
You have friends that love giving advice, even though they have no like real life experience to give that advice, right? Like I remember one time this girl, it's not nothing wrong with not dating a whole lot, but she didn't date a whole lot. And one of my friends started dating this other guy who was a really great guy. Like I really liked him and she was like, you should not be dating that guy.
And here's my list of reasons why you shouldn't. And she have all these different reasons that were all built on experiences, right? Well, I see this in his life. That's a red flag.
I read this book one time and that's a red flag, right? And she had no idea of how to really interact with this type of situation. She didn't know experientially. He had no basis for really what she was talking about.
And like this couple like almost broke up. Like it was really sad. Now they're married and multiple kids is great, right? But it's like things like that.
You guys have friends like that. I know I've had friends like that who love giving their advice. We don't want those friends. All right, you can have them.
But you don't want those people around you when you're going through something tough. But you want the people who are going to listen to you. You want the people who are going to pray for you, lift you, lift your circumstance up praying that God would give you the wisdom, not that they would give you the wisdom. Those are the type of people that you need.
You also need people who are going to be there for you. Now, this is where these guys fail. They're all asleep, but not praying like they're supposed to be Jesus. They're doing everything wrong.
It also makes it really sweet. But even though his best friends and his family ditched him at his most greatest hour of need, what does he do? He still goes to the cross that died for them because he loves them that much. He even makes it a little bit sweeter.
So we need to surround ourselves with supportive friends. A little bit of 39 going a little further, he fell face down and prayed. My father, if it is possible, let this cut past for me, yet not as I will, but as you will. Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping.
He asked Peter, so couldn't you stay awake with me one hour? Stay awake and pray so that you won't enter in temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Again, the second time he went away and prayed, my father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will would be done.
And he came again and found them sleeping because they could not keep their eyes open. And after leaving them, he went away again and prayed a third time saying the same thing once more. Now, there's a couple of interesting things here. If you notice in 39, his first phrase that he says is, my father, if it is possible.
The second time that we see this in verse 42, some of your Bibles may have translated it if my father, if this cannot pass. What's interesting is if and since are synonymous in the Greek language sometimes and some translations, I think it's right. Say again, a second time he went and prayed, my father, since this cannot. The first time he's asking father, if this can pass, let it be done.
The second time he goes back, he says, since this can't be done and I'm going to have to go through this, your will be done. Now, here's why I think he switches from the if to the sense that they imply that it's going to happen. I think God showed him what was going to happen because the disciples fell asleep. He asked God if this could be any other way, let this be.
I don't want to die. I don't want to do this. And then his humanity, you know, he's the struggle. And then he remembers, you know what, but I have to.
I'm the only one who can do this. I am the son of God. I'm the only one who can be the sacrifice. And so he's struggling and he goes to see if he's fine counsel with his friends and his friends are sleeping and he says, all right, it's going to happen.
This is going to, I am going to go and I'm going to do this. And he says, father, your will, not mine. This is the second point. Look to God for strength and purpose.
What we see here is that his friends have ditched him. The first place you should go when your press is not to your friends. It should be the God because why God will never fail you. Your friends will.
This is a clear example. His friends were not good at being his friends, right? They failed Jesus. His greatest moment of need.
They said, you know what? First going to fall asleep. And so Jesus finds his strength and God the father. When you're pressed, when you've got things coming at you, when you feel like your marriages are about to break up, when you're feeling like your job is just killing you, when you feel like your relationship stuff is just all over the map, when you just feel like the struggles of this life, you need to look to God.
Because not only is he's going to see you through it, he'll be the strength to get through it, but also there's a purpose. You see Jesus saying here, it's not my will, right? It's God's will, your will. The best thing that could ever happen for you and for me is to be in God's will.
The worst day that you can ever imagine in your life, if it's in God's will, is the best day you'll ever experience. And the best day that you ever have in your life, that's just so you can all the money and all the cars, get in a great relationship and all that stuff. But it is not a part of God's will that is going to be the worst day of your life because you want to be at the center of what God is doing. And so Jesus says, I know what I'm about to face.
We know from the Lord's supper, he knew exactly what he was going to happen to him. He says, you know what, not your, not my will, but yours. If since this can't pass from me, got me, I trust that you know what you're doing. I think that's a beautiful picture of his humanity.
He's looking to God for strength and God, the purpose. Where do you look? You look when something happens to the first thing you go to is your bank account. Oh, maybe I can fix this with money.
Is it your parents, right? I know growing up with something big or tragic happened in my life. Guess what? The first people I called mom, dad, what should I do?
Or it was mom, dad, do you have enough money to help me with this, right? Who and what do you go to? For some people, when the pressure comes on them, they go to substances, right? They go to drugs, they go to excessive drinking.
They do all sorts of stuff just to escape reality. Why? Because the pressure is too much. And if you're someone who says, you know what, I believe in Jesus, I want to follow Jesus.
The first thing that you need to do is you need to look and trust in God's purpose and His strength to carry you through. Surround yourself with godly people who are going to pray for you. We're not going to give you bad advice based on their own perceptions. We're going to say, well, let's see what God has to say about this.
Let's see what God wants to work in you and grow you throughout this process. That's the type of people that you need. The Bible never says to worry about it. The Bible never says stress about things in life.
The Bible never says figure it out on your own. The Bible consistently shows us story after story that we are supposed to trust God. It's in these moments that normally want to take things into our own hands. But God says, don't try harder.
He says dig deeper into your trust. Trust deeper. That's what the Lord has to say. Let's get the next section of scripture here.
Verse 45 through 50. This is where the story starts to get interesting. Then He came to the disciples, all of them, and said to them, are you still sleeping and resting? See, the time is near.
The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up. Let's go. See, my betrayer is near.
And while He was still speaking, Judas, one of the 12 suddenly arrived. The idea there is that Judas just appeared out of nowhere. And a large mob of swords and clubs was with him from the chief priests and elders of the people. His betrayer had given them a sign.
The one I kiss, he's the one, arrest him. So immediately, he went up to Jesus and said, greetings Rabbi. Just means teacher and kiss him. Verse 50, friend, Jesus asked him, why have you come?
Then they came up and took hold of Jesus and arrested him. Let's just stop there for a moment. Jesus goes out knowing that these disciples have fallen asleep and he asks them, are you still sleeping and resting? Can't you see this is a point of prayer?
This is a time where I need you. Let's just be honest, how many of us have fallen asleep in prayer before? Right? Now my God, let's see those hands.
Right? We have done that before, right? And we're not even in a pivotal moment. So Jesus is saying, do you not understand what's going on now?
Judas is coming into this field with all these clubs and swords and people. There's ruckuses going around. There are drunk Alleons, right? Getting ready for the festival, making all sorts of noises.
And yet you guys are falling asleep. And so he just says, you know what? Let's get up. Get up.
Let's go because my betrayer is here. The time that you had to be with me, well, it's come to an end. And then they came by him and Jesus says in verse 50, he says, friend. Now this term friend literally means the one who I was just with.
Jesus looks at Judas and he doesn't say, you know, good friend or he doesn't say, oh my good acquaintance, right? He wants to point out to Judas in his betrayal. Weren't we just eating together? Weren't we just with each other?
Wasn't I just washing your feet? And Jesus knowing full well what's about to happen says, why have you come? Question here is why does Jesus ask him that? Why does Jesus say, why have you come here?
I think it's interesting that in this moment, I believe Jesus asked this question for one clear reason. This is Judas's last chance to make things right. He's saying, friend, don't do this. Why have you come here?
Make up a different excuse, right? Yeah, Judas goes through with the plan. Kisses him, betrays him. What I think is beautiful is the way Jesus allows it to happen.
When we're pressed from all sides, the next point is accept the future because God's in control. Jesus has affirmed God, you are in control. I want to do your will. I'm going to find strength in you.
And so when Judas comes up to kiss him and to portray him, he doesn't run away. He stands there and he takes it. He offers Judas one last out. That's the Jesus that we have a God who gives us so many chances to make things right.
And he accepts the future. He accepts what's going to happen. Sometimes I see people when they're pressed from all different sides, they try to change the circumstance. They don't accept that what's about to happen is going to happen.
They don't accept the future. Sometimes you got to look at your life and when you're a press from all sides, you just got to say, you know what, that job is probably going to end. Just accept it. It makes plans to move on.
Sometimes the best thing that we can do is accept what's about to happen. But specifically, I want to caveat this, right? We need to accept the future because we trust in God's control, right? We know that whatever's going to happen, even if I lose this job, I lose this relationship, whatever it is, we accept it.
Because we are saying, God, not my will, but your will be done. And I know that whatever your will is, it's going to be the best thing for my life. So even if I lose this job, that I thought was my dream job, guess what? You have something better for me.
It may not be a better job, but it's going to be something that's going to grow me spiritually to be more in love with you or it could be a better job. And that will allow me to praise you more. I don't know what it is, but it's the moment where you get to and say, you know what, I'm an accepted future because I know that God's in control and he has what's best for my life. I don't know what it is, he knows what it is, and I trust him fully in that.
But then it goes to the second caveat here in verse 51, next point, you accept the future, but you also remain calm. Look at verse 51, I love this. At the moment, one of those with Jesus reached out his hand and drew his sword, he struck the high priest's servant and cut off his ear. Then Jesus told him, look how beautiful this is here, put your sword back in its place because all who take up the sword will perish by the sword.
Or do you not think that I cannot call on my Father and he will provide me here and now with more than 12 legion of angels? How done would the scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way? What Jesus is doing here is remaining calm. One of the disciples, he's antsy, right?
He's not thinking, he goes to cut off the ear of a guy and says, you know what, we're going to fight our way out of here. And Jesus just says, no, this is God's will. It's God's will that I'm going to go to the cross. I'm going to die, I'm going to be whipped, I'm going to be spit on, I'm going to be mocked so that people who are far from God can be brought near.
And so this guy cuts his ear off and he says, you know what, I'm going to show you what it looks like for God to make you whole again. And he restores the ear, one passes out his ear and picks it up the ear and puts it back on the guy. And he restores it, he heals it. Imagine being that guy, right?
You're going to arrest Jesus and then your ear gets cut off and then he puts it back on. I'm sure I would go back to the back of the party and go home, right? I'm not going to be a part of this. This guy just put my ear back.
And yet even in that moment he says, listen, he's probably Peter, right? Because he's always in his stupid stuff. He says, Peter, what's your sword going to do? I could call down thousands of angels.
I could wipe every single person out. I am God, right? That's his divinity here. I have this power, but no, Jesus remains calm.
He remains calm because he trusts in God's control. I know people that when something happens, their biggest thing that they do is think about all the worst things that could happen. I do this, right? I have this from my family lineage of anxiety.
I don't know if you have anxiety, but I do. So when something happens, what do I do? I think about all the worst possible things that can happen. And I mull over it over and over and over and over again.
And so I start stressing myself out more because I'm thinking about all the bad things that can happen. And God says when you're in that moment, just take calm. Remain calm. It's going to be okay.
Why is it going to be okay? Let's look at this last one because we're reaffirming God's in control. We're trusting in God's control. The other verse 55, at that time, Jesus said to the crowds, again, Jesus is asking rhetorical questions here because he knows all this.
Have you come out with swords and clubs? Is it a fiber of criminal to capture me? Every day I used to sit teaching in the temple and you didn't arrest me then. But all this has happened so that the writings of the prophets could be fulfilled.
He said, all this is happening because this is God's will. This is how God's going to restore humanity. And I think in one of the most haunted sentences in the New Testament, it's verse at the end of verse 56, look at this, that all the disciples deserted him and ran away. I think this passage shows us, is that only is Jesus being pressed, but the disciples are too.
The disciples are there, they're thinking about their future and they're thinking to themselves, man, if I go with Jesus, I may have the same fate as him. I may end up crucified. I may end up tortured. I may end up mocked.
And the scariest thing that I see in this passage is that last raised. And they all deserted him. Think about that. They weren't there to pray with him and then the sign when they all know that it's over, that Jesus is going to be taken away, put on a cross.
What do they do? They run. Guys, I don't know about you, but I know in my own life, when I feel pressured, when I feel like things are going out of control, the first thing that I do is not turn to God, I desert him. I ask things like, God, why aren't you there for me?
Why aren't you doing this? Like, I know what's best for my own life. Sometimes I will go, God, if you're not going to do this, well, I'm not going to go to church. I'm not going to do this, right?
And you just get angry at God. Because he's not giving you what you want, when you want it, in your own time frame. Sometimes you get angry because you're actually getting what you want, but it wasn't what God had for you and it's actually destroying your life. But either way, you see here, they're pressured and they desert him.
Guys, when we are pressured, when we are feeling the weight and the burdens of this life, no matter what it is, we have to rent a God. We need to turn to him and trust in his control, trust in his will. We should not desert him. The reason why is because in a few days from here, Jesus is going to be resurrected.
Jesus is the hope that they've been looking for. And what's amazing is that these very disciples that deserted him and ran away, you know what most of them will happen to them? They're going to be crucified. They're going to die.
Many are going to be tortured. Many of them are going to be boiled in hot, salty water because they have the hope in Jesus. They go from cowards who desert Jesus to people who are strengthened and emboldened by God to be used by him. And they understand that even when they're being hung upside down and crucified to a cross, that that was the Father's will.
And many of them will tell stories about how they're not worthy to die like Jesus or they have to be turned upside down because they don't want to die in the same way as their Savior. But you see over and over again from the stories, they're out church history people who have died because they've been strengthened when they've been pressured by Jesus. So I don't know what it is for you. I don't know if it's pressure of life, job, relationships or what it is, maybe it's finances.
I don't know what it is. All I know is this, surround yourself with godly friends, trust and look the God for strength and his will and his purpose. Don't get too nervous and antsy, right? Remain calm.
And if you do all these things, what you're allowing yourself to do is opening yourself up to God to actually move. You're saying, God, I trust you. I want to affirm my trust in you. And then you watch him work in your life.
It's scary. Let me tell you guys, Amber and I have gone through a lot of moments like this where we have had to trust God. And it's scary. But it's always worth it when you come out the other end.
So when you feel pressed, except when you feel pressed, let's go through this round yourself with prayer and friends, look to God for strength and purpose, accept the future, remain calm and reaffirm God's in control. Let me read you one last scripture. Second Corinthians, I'm not going to use 4, 8, 3, 11. It won't be on the string.
But if you're running struggles with this, I just want to ask you to close your eyes and just listen to these words. We are afflicted in every way, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. We are persecuted, but we are not abandoned.
We are struck down, but we are not destroyed. We always listen. We always carry the death of Jesus in our body so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body for we who live are always being given over to the death for Jesus' sake, so that Jesus' life may also be displayed in our flesh. What he's talking about here is that when we go through these things and we, the burdens of this life and we have all the surrounding us, when we remain calm and trust in God and give him all of the power to do whatever he needs to do, what that does is it shows the world the example of Jesus here, that Jesus was willing to trust in God's will and that was even to the point of death on a cross so that people who sinned against God can be brought near.
We have a reflection time here at Mercy Hill. It's just a time for you just to kind of close your eyes where you're at, just to pray, just to reflect on the message. I really believe the Holy Spirit works in our lives and so it may not be one of the main points in the message. It might have been something small that the Spirit has just been nudging at you, but I want you to take this time.
And when you're ready, you can stand up and join in the singing of the song, but it's a time just to reflect. But I'm going to give you three things to think about specifically if you haven't really, if the Spirit's not bringing something to your mind, it's this. The first thing is this, what do you do when life becomes chaotic? You go to God first, if you say no, I don't normally.
That's my challenge for you. Make that a priority. Tell Jesus, tell God right now that I'm going to do that from now on. Ask the Spirit to help you to remember to trust him when life gets unbearable.
The second thing is some of you have a question I would ask is do you have godly people to surround yourself by? Do you have that godly family that can pray for you, that can open up God's word with you, and help you to discern how to walk this life when things get difficult? If you don't, I'm encouraging you and I'm challenging you. Find those people.
Oftentimes, that's found in the local churches, found in churches like Mercy Hill, who says that the church is not like a family, the church is a family. Find that, plug in, serve, belong, and keep each other accountable when things get difficult. And lastly, what I'm just going to ask this question is, some of you may not even have this relationship with God at all. You hear this, you think Jesus, like God, he was just a good teacher.
Some of you, his humanity of the struggle stuck out to you, and then for some of you, it might have been God's divinity. He could have called all these legions of angels down, but he doesn't do that. And they might be plaguing you inside thinking, why wouldn't you do that? If you know you're about to die, why would you not save yourself?
Well, the answer is in about 12 hours from now, when Jesus is in this moment, they're going to be, he's already going to be whipped, to be naked, bleeding everywhere unrecognizable, and then they're going to nail him to a cross, where he is going to not only suffocate on the cross, but he is going to have a spear and his side, nails through his hands and his feet, he's going to go through excruciating pain. What's even crazier is that if that was bad, what was even worse was the spiritual thing that was going on then, when the scripture tells us that God the Father actually looked away because of pain, of seeing everyone's sin put upon Jesus. It was too much for him to handle. Your sin, my sin, put upon the Savior of the world who was innocent.
And Jesus says, you know what, I'm not going to call down a legion of angels, why? Because I want legions of people to be saved, and I'm the only one who can do it. I'm the only one who can satisfy God's wrath, because I'm the only one who is perfect. The divine punishment can only be fulfilled by divine substitution and that was Jesus.
So I'm going to ask everyone right now to just bow your heads, close your eyes. You struggle with anxiety and not knowing the future, you need to trust God. Just raise your hand so I know how to pray for you this week. And maybe I'll be praying for you, absolutely.
Maybe you're in here and you say, I don't have godly friends and I need those friends in my life. That's you. I want you to raise your hands so that I can pray for you and hopefully help connect you. Absolutely, absolutely praying for you.
Some of you came into this auditorium church service thinking to yourself, I don't even know why I'm going to this thing. I don't believe in Jesus. I don't believe Jesus. I don't believe in that sacrifice.
But at some point the Holy Spirit has stirred in your heart to believe, and you want to say I believe in Jesus. I was once lost but now I am found. I am now believing that Jesus sacrifices enough to take away my sin and to bring me to God. If that's you, I want you to raise your hand.
God is doing amazing things. We can trust Him even when it gets difficult, even when we're pressed. Let's take a moment and just pray to the Lord and when you're ready, you can stand and join in worship.