Pilate Under Pressure

Brothers and sisters, have you ever been in a situation where you were at a crossroad, or fork in the road, not knowing which way to go?

It’s hard to make that decision that could possibly change things for good or bad. It’s a stressful situation. It brings with it a decision of the right or the wrong course. It brings on that thing we call pressure.

Now, this decision you have to make causes you to hesitate, it causes you to waiver, and it causes you to be open to the whispers of the Devil. However, we mustn’t be ashamed of our decisions, because we are not perfect and we may make decisions that are not what God intended. Life brings you pressure!

So what is pressure and why does it sometimes cause us so much stress?

Well, it’s like this. Pressure is a force, a force from within or a force from your surroundings. Whether it’s mental force or physical force, it usually involves “pressure”.

If you have kids, or watch the news, or the latest television shows, it’s quite clear that our young adults have a lot of peer pressure.

But we can’t always think of pressure as bad or hard. Sometimes it’s just what we need to see the light. Sometimes we need a little positive pressure to get us over that hill.

Brothers and sisters, there are many things that cause negative pressure as opposed to positive pressure. And guess what, sometimes you want know what’s negative or positive. What you might wanna believe is positive pressure, could actually be negative pressure. AMEN

• This might be a persuasion to do something wrong,

• This could be someone trying to influence you to do something wrong,

• This could be someone trying to intimidate you into doing something wrong,

• This can very well be harassment causing you to do something wrong,

• Or perhaps you’re tempted to just go ahead and do this wrong thing this one time.

Whatever the case: persuasion, influence, intimidation or harassment, and even temptation can sometimes make it hard to “just say no”. It’s hard now, and it was hard back then. Why, because we lack understanding. There have been many tempted, and twisted, and confused, under this thing called pressure. AMEN

Mark 15: 1 says: and straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.

The Elders, the Chief priest, the Scribes and the whole Sanhedrin council would deliver a bound Jesus to one man, Pilate. Quite frankly, this force of leaders would say to Pilate, “Hey, you need to get this done”. The handwriting was literally on the wall. If that wasn’t pressure, I don’t know what is. AMEN

My message today is “Pilate Under Pressure”.

Now back in the bible days, every year there was a feast held. During this feast there would be prisoners presented by the governor, to the people to be chosen for release, and given their freedom. Pilate was in fact the Governor and usually he was a man that got his job done. He was Pontius Pilate. AMEN

Mark 15: 6 states: Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired.

What normally took place would be that “all selected” by the governor would actually be criminals.

Let me say those key words one more time.

• “all Selected”

• “by the Governor”

• “Criminals”

But this year it would be different. The deceit had begun long before the day of the event. The signs of pressure were all around Pontius Pilate. His wife would even try to warn him to not take part in what she felt was going to happen. Pilate's wife had dreamed of events that somehow troubled her so much that she would send him a message.

Matthew 27: 19 states: When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.

Now, I don’t know about you, but when my wife taps my hand, she’s normally picked up on something I may have missed. AMEN

Along with Jesus, there would be another person in this web of deceit. That person’s name was Barabbas. Barabbas was actually a criminal; a known criminal. He was the logical choice to be crucified. Everyone was familiar with Barabbas, as he was both a thief and a murderer. My Lord!!

Mark 15: 7 states: And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection.