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Speaker 5: Hi, this is Joel. Thanks so much for downloading the podcast.
Speaker 5: I believe you'll be inspired and challenged. I hope you
Speaker 5: enjoy the message.
Speaker 4: Well, God bless you.
Speaker 5: It's a joy to come into your homes. If you're
Speaker 5: ever in our area, please stop buying. Be a part
Speaker 5: of one of our services. I promise you will make
Speaker 5: you feel right at home. I like to start with
Speaker 5: something funny, and I heard about this man. He was
Speaker 5: driving through an intersection that was monitored by cameras. If
Speaker 5: he ran the light or broke the law in any way,
Speaker 5: you'd receive a ticket in the mail, so he made
Speaker 5: sure to go through it extra slowly. But he noticed
Speaker 5: the camera flashed and took his picture. He thought, that's
Speaker 5: not right. He turned around and drove through it even
Speaker 5: more slowly. Once again, the camera flashed.
Speaker 4: He thought, this thing is messed up. They cannot give
Speaker 4: me a ticket.
Speaker 5: Out of spite, he drove through it three more times,
Speaker 5: each time waving at the camera with a big smile.
Speaker 5: A week later, he received five tickets.
Speaker 4: In the mail for not wearing his seat belt. Say
Speaker 4: it like you mean it.
Speaker 5: This is my Bible. I am what it says I am.
Speaker 5: I have what it says I have. I can do
Speaker 5: what it says I can do. Today I will be
Speaker 5: taught the word of God. I boldly confess. My mind
Speaker 5: is alert, my heart is receptive. I will never be
Speaker 5: the same. In Jesus' name, God bless you. I want
Speaker 5: to talk to you today about pruned for promotion. We
Speaker 5: all go through times where it feels like we're going backwards.
Speaker 5: We were doing so good. Business was strong, our family
Speaker 5: was happy. We knew we had God's favor, but then
Speaker 5: things turned. We lost a major client, our child didn't
Speaker 5: get the scholarship, a friend walked away.
Speaker 4: We wonder what happened? What did we do wrong?
Speaker 5: But just because you're having difficulties and things you don't
Speaker 5: understand doesn't mean you're not in God's will. God is
Speaker 5: ordering our steps. Sometimes he will order a cutback. Just
Speaker 5: as there are seasons of growth, there are seasons of pruning.
Speaker 5: Without the pruning, we won't become all we were created
Speaker 5: to be. And God won't allow a cutback if it's
Speaker 5: not going to eventually work for your good.
Speaker 3: It may be.
Speaker 5: Uncomfortable, you don't understand it. You lost a contract, you
Speaker 5: lost a relationship, lost an opportunity. God wouldn't have let
Speaker 5: you lose that if he wasn't going to give you
Speaker 5: something better. He may have proned a friend out of
Speaker 5: your life. There's a better friend coming. You may have
Speaker 5: lost a job. There's a better job on the way.
Speaker 5: You suffer to setback in your health, Better health is
Speaker 5: in your future. Don't be discouraged by the cutback. It's
Speaker 5: a sign new growth is coming. Jesus said in John fifteen,
Speaker 5: I am the vine.
Speaker 4: You are the branches. My father is the gardener.
Speaker 5: Every branch that doesn't produce fruit he cuts away. This
Speaker 5: makes sense when we have things in life that are
Speaker 5: not productive. A friend pulling us down, a job not
Speaker 5: leading anywhere. He'll cut those things away so we can
Speaker 5: put our attention and focus on the things that are
Speaker 5: moving us forward. We can understand losing something that's not
Speaker 5: adding value. But he goes on to say, every branch
Speaker 5: that does bear fruit, the gardener cuts back so it
Speaker 5: will bear more fruit.
Speaker 4: The only way to go from fruit to more fruit
Speaker 4: is to be cut back.
Speaker 5: There are times in life where we will lose something
Speaker 5: that doesn't make sense. You're going to work with a
Speaker 5: good attitude, helping others, faithfully raising your children. You're doing
Speaker 5: the right thing, but the wrong thing happens. Instead of
Speaker 5: being discouraged, slacking off, having no passion, recognize it's a
Speaker 5: pruning season. Without that cutback, you won't see new growth.
Speaker 5: You may be satisfied to stay where you are, not
Speaker 5: be uncomfortable, not rock the boat. But God is not satisy.
Speaker 5: He loves you too much to let you miss your destiny.
Speaker 5: He has new levels in front of you. Will you trust.
Speaker 4: Him in the cutback seasons?
Speaker 5: Will you keep doing the right thing in the times
Speaker 5: of pruning, when things have gone backwards, when.
Speaker 4: You could be discouraged.
Speaker 5: Jesus said, if you abide in Me, you will bear
Speaker 5: much fruit.
Speaker 4: He talks in this.
Speaker 5: Passage about fruit, more fruit, and much fruit. The way
Speaker 5: to increase is simply by abiding. He was saying, when
Speaker 5: things happen you don't understand, things that don't make sense.
Speaker 5: When you could be bitter, you could slack off instead.
Speaker 5: If you'll trust me, if you'll believe I'm still directing
Speaker 5: your steps, if you'll praise me even when it's not fair.
Speaker 5: If you'll stay faithful when you could be frustrated, If
Speaker 5: you'll abide, that means you keep doing the right thing,
Speaker 5: keep a smile on your face, you keep being good
Speaker 5: to people, you keep expecting God's favor. Then you're passing
Speaker 5: the test. You'll come into more fruit. When you prove
Speaker 5: to God that you'll be faithful in the cutback seasons, he'll.
Speaker 4: Release you into much fruit.
Speaker 5: He'll take you where you could not go on your own.
Speaker 5: But we're not going to see these new levels without
Speaker 5: going through seasons of losing things. We don't understand, seasons
Speaker 5: that are uncomfortable, seasons where what worked in the.
Speaker 4: Past is not working now. Don't be discouraged.
Speaker 5: The cutback season is all a part of the process.
Speaker 5: It's a sign that new growth is coming. I talked
Speaker 5: to a man. The company he worked for sold. They
Speaker 5: let all the employees go, and for the longest time
Speaker 5: he couldn't find a new job. He ended up having
Speaker 5: to move back home to another state. He was living
Speaker 5: with his mother. He's in his field, he said. I
Speaker 5: never dreamed I'd be here at my age.
Speaker 4: I don't know what happened.
Speaker 5: I told him what I'm telling you. You came into
Speaker 5: a cutback season. It's not a surprise to God. Now,
Speaker 5: whether you stay there or not depends on what you do.
Speaker 5: If you get better, complain.
Speaker 4: Talk about how bad life is, then you'll get stuck.
Speaker 5: But when you recognize that cutback is a sign that
Speaker 5: new growth is coming, that more fruit is in your future,
Speaker 5: that God is getting you prepared for new levels, you
Speaker 5: make this decision to trust him, to believe that he's
Speaker 5: in control, then things are going to change in your favor.
Speaker 4: You're going to see new.
Speaker 5: Doors begin to open. I saw him about a year later.
Speaker 5: He had a new job. He had just moved into
Speaker 5: a beautiful new house. He said, Joel, I am happier
Speaker 5: and more fulfilled than I've ever been. Don't let the
Speaker 5: cutback fool you. The enemy didn't get control of the
Speaker 5: pruning years. He didn't overtake God, and now he's directing
Speaker 5: your steps.
Speaker 4: God is still in control.
Speaker 5: You may not light the cutback, it may not make sense.
Speaker 5: This is what faith is all about.
Speaker 4: God. I don't understand it, but I trust you.
Speaker 5: I know you wouldn't have allowed it if you didn't
Speaker 5: have a purpose.
Speaker 4: I want to thank you that I'm not just going
Speaker 4: to come out, but I'm going to come out better.
Speaker 5: But I wonder how many times we're fighting what God
Speaker 5: has ordained.
Speaker 4: Now. I believe in standing.
Speaker 5: Against sicknesses, addictions, dysfunction, But every difficulty is not the enemy.
Speaker 4: It's the gardener. God prunes us.
Speaker 5: He cuts things back, not to limit us, but to
Speaker 5: get us prepared for new growth. Are you discouraged over
Speaker 5: something you lost, something that didn't work out, thinking the
Speaker 5: enemy is hindering you, when in fact it's the hand
Speaker 5: of God. We give the enemy too much credit. He
Speaker 5: can't touch you without God's permission. We believe that God
Speaker 5: is directing our steps When good things are happening.
Speaker 4: It's easy to thank him.
Speaker 5: In the harvest seasons, the growing seasons, the promotion seasons.
Speaker 5: But in the pruning seasons. You have to dig down deep.
Speaker 5: Your praise in the cutback seasons carries more weight than
Speaker 5: in the harvest seasons. You're not only showing God that
Speaker 5: you trust him, but God.
Speaker 4: Is doing a work in you. Your character is being developed.
Speaker 5: Your spiritual muscles are getting stronger. We may not like
Speaker 5: the pruning seasons, but God is the gardener. He knows
Speaker 5: when to cut something back or will get stuck. He
Speaker 5: is not going to cut something back without giving.
Speaker 4: You more in return. Dare to trust him.
Speaker 5: A couple of years ago, I planted some trees along
Speaker 5: my fence in the backyard to help block the view.
Speaker 5: I bought the biggest ones I could find. They were
Speaker 5: about fifteen feet tall, and they're the type that form
Speaker 5: a thick hedge that you can't see through. They're outside
Speaker 5: my kitchen window, and I was constantly checking their growth.
Speaker 5: I could measure how close they were getting to the
Speaker 5: telephone lines.
Speaker 4: They were doing really good.
Speaker 5: About six months later, the men that helps with my
Speaker 5: landscaping said it's time to trim the bushes, trim the
Speaker 5: trees and ask if.
Speaker 4: It was okay.
Speaker 5: I told him yes, but not to touch the trees
Speaker 5: along the back fence. I wanted that thick hedge. He said, okay,
Speaker 5: but they're not going to grow like they should. I said,
Speaker 5: what do you mean. He said, When we prune them,
Speaker 5: it stimulates new growth. If we don't cut them back,
Speaker 5: they won't be as tall and thick as they should be.
Speaker 5: I'm not a gardener. I thought, just the opposite. They're growing,
Speaker 5: they're doing good. Don't bother them. The gardener knew if
Speaker 5: he didn't bother them, if he didn't take them through
Speaker 5: a cutback, it would actually limit their growth.
Speaker 4: Next year, they wouldn't be where they should In the
Speaker 4: same way.
Speaker 5: God is your gardener. He's not going to cut you
Speaker 5: back without a purpose. He's not going to prune you
Speaker 5: if it's not leading to more fruit. It may not
Speaker 5: make sense to you. You feel like you're going the
Speaker 5: wrong direction.
Speaker 4: God knows what he's doing.
Speaker 5: That landscaper said to me, let me trim them and
Speaker 5: watch where they'll be next year.
Speaker 4: You'll be surprised at how big and full they are.
Speaker 5: You may have been cut back. God is saying, watch
Speaker 5: where you're going to be next year.
Speaker 4: Watch the people that are going to come into your.
Speaker 5: Life, Watch the opportunities, the new doors that are about
Speaker 5: to open. You won't be complaining about the cutback.
Speaker 4: You'll be saying, Lord.
Speaker 5: Thank you for pruning me, thank you for getting me prepared,
Speaker 5: thank you for taking me to new levels. What I
Speaker 5: want us to see is the pruning is not because
Speaker 5: you've done something wrong. It's not because God has forgotten
Speaker 5: about you.
Speaker 4: It's a test. Will you abide? Will you stay in faith?
Speaker 5: Yes, the pruning seasons are not comfortable. We don't like it,
Speaker 5: but it's all a part of the process. It's what
Speaker 5: leads to much fruit. But you can't get too much
Speaker 5: without being cut back. If you don't understand this, you'll
Speaker 5: be frustrated. Joel, I come every Sunday. I volunteer at
Speaker 5: the hospital. I'm always cheering people up, and now I'm
Speaker 5: the one that's down.
Speaker 4: I had a bad break.
Speaker 5: That's not the enemy trying to stop you. That's God getting.
Speaker 4: You prepared for new levels.
Speaker 5: The apostle Paul never prayed for God to remove his difficulties.
Speaker 5: He prayed that God would give him strength to endure
Speaker 5: whatever came his way. And if we could pray away
Speaker 5: the cutback seasons.
Speaker 4: Jesus would have done it.
Speaker 5: The scripture says he endured the pain of the cross,
Speaker 5: looking forward to the joy that was coming.
Speaker 4: Some things we have to endure.
Speaker 5: The way to do it is to know that it's
Speaker 5: not permanent, and to know that you're going to come
Speaker 5: out better. Keep reminding yourself that cutback is leading.
Speaker 4: To new growth.
Speaker 5: And what's interesting is God cuts us back when we're
Speaker 5: bearing fruit, not when we're off course doing things wrong,
Speaker 5: but when we're doing things.
Speaker 4: Right, when good things are happening.
Speaker 5: Now, I could have taken the pruning shears and thought,
Speaker 5: I'm gonna save some money this year.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna trim my own trees.
Speaker 5: The problem is I don't know when to prune, and
Speaker 5: I don't know where to prove. Some plants need to
Speaker 5: be cut back in the spring. Others cut back in
Speaker 5: the fall.
Speaker 4: Sometimes you you may skip a season.
Speaker 5: Pruning shears in the wrong hands can be detrimental. I
Speaker 5: can have good intentions and cut at the wrong time
Speaker 5: at the wrong place and damage my trees. Do more
Speaker 5: harm than good. When Victoria and I were first married,
Speaker 5: she said, Joel, let me put some blonde highlights in
Speaker 5: your hair, just to lighten it up and give you
Speaker 5: a new look.
Speaker 4: You know this is not going to turn out good.
Speaker 5: I was so in love and so dumb, I mean,
Speaker 5: so respectful.
Speaker 4: I would let her do anything she asked. So she
Speaker 4: put these.
Speaker 5: Blonde highlights in my hair. I had foiled all through it.
Speaker 5: We had to wait thirty minutes. When she took the
Speaker 5: foil off, Victoria started laughing and laughing. Now, when Victoria
Speaker 5: is nervous or afraid, she doesn't panic, she doesn't get upset.
Speaker 4: She laughs. I knew this was not a good sign.
Speaker 5: When I looked in the mirror, my hair was as
Speaker 5: orange as conved Victoria, you have to put it back,
Speaker 5: She laughed and said.
Speaker 4: I don't know how. Here's my point.
Speaker 5: The right tools in the wrong hands can be dangerous.
Speaker 5: The good news is God is your gardener. He's the
Speaker 5: only one that can prune you. He's in control of
Speaker 5: your cutbacks. When Satan wanted to test job, he couldn't
Speaker 5: go in and get the pruning shears do whatever he wanted.
Speaker 5: He had to ask God for permission. When you go
Speaker 5: through a cutback, a loss, things you don't understand, remind
Speaker 5: yourself God has.
Speaker 4: The pruning shears.
Speaker 5: He is not going to prune you to where you
Speaker 5: end up with less less joy, less strength, less resources
Speaker 5: That may happen temporarily, but if you'll keep abiding, that
Speaker 5: cutback is leading to more fruit. God wouldn't have allowed
Speaker 5: it if he wasn't going to bring you out.
Speaker 4: Better, stronger, wiser, with new growth.
Speaker 5: You may be in a cutback season now, wondering how
Speaker 5: you went from doing great to where you are.
Speaker 4: You were being your best.
Speaker 5: Looks like you've lost ground, yes, but.
Speaker 4: That loss is not permanent.
Speaker 5: What you can't see is that cutback is setting you
Speaker 5: up for new levels. You're about to come into a
Speaker 5: season of much fruit, a season where you see increase
Speaker 5: like you've never seen. Good breaks, promotions, relationships better than
Speaker 5: you've imagined. A while back, a cable network that aired
Speaker 5: our services on Sunday nights informed us that they were
Speaker 5: going to start running movies. At that time, they had
Speaker 5: to cancel our contract. We had been on this network
Speaker 5: for thirty five years. We had a loyal audience, people
Speaker 5: that watched us there faithfully each week. I thought, God,
Speaker 5: I don't want to go backwards. I want to go forward.
Speaker 5: That was one of our best outlets here. We were
Speaker 5: doing the right we were bearing fruit, people were being helped.
Speaker 5: But sometimes God closes a door that we don't understand.
Speaker 5: I've been buying airtime way back with my father's ministry
Speaker 5: for many years. There's nothing available on Sunday nights, especially
Speaker 5: commercial television. It looked like this cutback was permanent. About
Speaker 5: six months later, a men we work with called said Joel,
Speaker 5: I couldn't find another cable network on Sunday nights, but
Speaker 5: I did get the broadcast networks like CBS and ABC.
Speaker 5: They agreed to move their programming Sunday nights after the
Speaker 5: news so they could air your program The audience on
Speaker 5: the broadcast stations is three times what it was.
Speaker 4: On the cable network.
Speaker 5: I went from fruit to more fruit. Notice how it happened.
Speaker 4: I was cut back.
Speaker 5: I didn't understand it. It didn't seem like a good
Speaker 5: thing at the time. But now I say, Lord, thank
Speaker 5: you for cutting me back. Thank you for opening doors
Speaker 5: I never dreamed would open. Thank you for ordering my steps.
Speaker 5: The cutback you're disappointed with now, if you'll keep abiding,
Speaker 5: thanking God being your best, one day you'll look back
Speaker 5: and say with me, Lord.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 5: Your ways are better than my ways. You could see
Speaker 5: things that I couldn't see. Trust him in the cutback seasons,
Speaker 5: believe that he's still directing your steps. Remember he has
Speaker 5: the pruning shears. The enemy cannot cut you back. God
Speaker 5: has a hedge of protection around you. In the Scripture
Speaker 5: of God told Abraham to take his son Isaac on
Speaker 5: top of a mountain and sacrifice him. We think of
Speaker 5: Isaac as being a little boy, but most scholars believe
Speaker 5: he was in his late teams. The scripture says he
Speaker 5: carried a pile of wood on his shoulders for the fire.
Speaker 5: He could have resisted laying on the alter, resisted letting
Speaker 5: his father tie him up, but he was willing to
Speaker 5: go through with it. I believe one reason is because
Speaker 5: he knew.
Speaker 4: The knife was in the right hands. He knew he
Speaker 4: could trust his father.
Speaker 5: When you understand the pruning shears are in your heavenly
Speaker 5: father's hands. When you know he won't cut you back
Speaker 5: without a purpose, that whatever he takes away temporarily is
Speaker 5: so he can bring you out with more than Like Isaac.
Speaker 5: You won't fight the cutback seasons. You won't be better.
Speaker 4: God, I was doing my best. Why did this happen?
Speaker 5: You trust your father, You know he's in control of
Speaker 5: the cutbacks. He wouldn't have taken you backwards if he
Speaker 5: wasn't going to.
Speaker 4: Bring you out with much fruit.
Speaker 5: Now I've learned God's idea of much is very different
Speaker 5: than our idea of much. You think you're blessed, now
Speaker 5: you haven't anything yet, you should see what God.
Speaker 4: Has in store for you.
Speaker 5: I thought I was doing good all those years working
Speaker 5: behind the scenes with my parents, putting my father's ministry
Speaker 5: on television. I never dreamed one day I would be
Speaker 5: up here, people would be watching all over the world.
Speaker 5: I went from fruit to more fruit, to much fruit.
Speaker 5: But what brought me here was it necessarily the good times,
Speaker 5: the times everything fell into place. It was the cutbacks,
Speaker 5: the things I didn't understand, the loss of my father.
Speaker 5: But in all those times that didn't make sense, I've
Speaker 5: learned I can trust the one who has the crooning shares.
Speaker 5: I know the enemy cannot cut me back. So I've
Speaker 5: done my best to just keep abiding, being faithful when
Speaker 5: I could be frustrated, doing the right thing when the
Speaker 5: wrong thing was happening, Thanking God through the disappointments, through
Speaker 5: the lass, through the times that didn't seem fair.
Speaker 4: Keep abiding.
Speaker 5: At one point you'll come out of the cutback season
Speaker 5: into a growing season out of not having enough into
Speaker 5: having more than enough. Steve Jobs was one of the
Speaker 5: most brilliant minds of our generation.
Speaker 4: He founded Apple Computer.
Speaker 5: It grew larger and larger, became very successful, but over
Speaker 5: the years he had conflict with his board. Eventually they
Speaker 5: voted him out. He was fired from the company that
Speaker 5: he founded. It didn't seem fair. He could have lived
Speaker 5: bitter upset. Instead, he went out and started another company.
Speaker 4: It became so successful. A few years later.
Speaker 5: Apple bought his company, brought him back.
Speaker 4: And put him in charge.
Speaker 5: He said, if I had not been fired by Apple,
Speaker 5: I would have never developed these skills that have made
Speaker 5: me into who I am. God knows what he's doing.
Speaker 4: He's not going to let you be cut back without
Speaker 4: a purpose.
Speaker 5: It may look like a bad break, but if you'll
Speaker 5: keep the right attitude, you'll see how it will all
Speaker 5: work to your advantage. He knows when to take something away.
Speaker 5: It is not to limit us, it's to promote us.
Speaker 5: If that person left you, it wasn't an accident. Their
Speaker 5: part in your story was over. God pruned them. Now
Speaker 5: keep moving forward. If that project didn't last, it wasn't
Speaker 5: supposed to. God closed the door don't sit around discourage thinking,
Speaker 5: poor old me. Like Steve, You're being pruned to bear
Speaker 5: much fruit. Get ready for the new thing God is
Speaker 5: about to do. Get ready for new levels of favor,
Speaker 5: new levels of abundance. This is what my father did.
Speaker 5: Back in the nineteen fifties. He was pastoring a thriving church.
Speaker 5: They had just built a beautiful new sanctuary. He had
Speaker 5: seven hundred members. That was a big deal.
Speaker 4: Back then.
Speaker 5: He was on the state board for his denomination. His
Speaker 5: future looked very bright. My sister Lisa was born with
Speaker 5: something like cerebral palsy. My father began to search the
Speaker 5: scriptures in a new light. He saw how God is
Speaker 5: a healer and how he wants us to live a blessed,
Speaker 5: victorious life. He thought the congregation would be excited about
Speaker 5: his new message.
Speaker 4: Of faith and victory. It was just the opposite.
Speaker 5: It didn't fit into their denominational teaching, and there was
Speaker 5: a lot of opposition. They ended up asking my father
Speaker 5: to leave. He was devastated. Lifelong friends never spoke to
Speaker 5: my mother again. Didn't make sense. It didn't seem fair.
Speaker 5: He could have been bitter God, Why did this happen?
Speaker 5: I was being my best.
Speaker 4: Why did I go backwards?
Speaker 5: He understood every branch that bears fruit will be cut back,
Speaker 5: not to stay at a loss, not to live defeated,
Speaker 5: but for one reason, to bear much fruit. Sometimes the
Speaker 5: favor of God is disguised as a cutback. It takes
Speaker 5: maturity to distinguish between the enemy trying to stop you
Speaker 5: and the gardener at work.
Speaker 4: Too often we're discouraged over what.
Speaker 5: God has ordained. Instead of being sour. My parents went
Speaker 5: out and started Lakewood. They didn't have a beautiful new sanctuary.
Speaker 5: They had an old Rundown feed store. They didn't have
Speaker 5: seven hundred people. They only had ninety. A cutback looked
Speaker 5: like they were going the wrong direction. There are times
Speaker 5: God will take you backwards before he thrust you forward.
Speaker 4: The cutback season is a test.
Speaker 5: He's seeing what are you going to do when you
Speaker 5: have a bad break. It didn't work out. You worked hard,
Speaker 5: but the business didn't make it. You were good to
Speaker 5: that person, but they walked away. What you do in
Speaker 5: the pruning seasons will determine whether you stay there or
Speaker 5: whether you come out better. My parents just kept abiding, giving, serving, loving.
Speaker 5: They didn't focus on what they didn't have. They thanked
Speaker 5: God for what they did have. This didn't happen overnight,
Speaker 5: but like God promised, they went from more fruit to
Speaker 5: much fruit. Lakewood grew to a church of many thousands.
Speaker 5: We're still going strong today, but we all want the
Speaker 5: much fruit.
Speaker 4: The question is are we willing to go through the process.
Speaker 5: Will we do the right things in the time of
Speaker 5: pruning when things don't make sense. My father would have
Speaker 5: never come into much without the cutback. He would have
Speaker 5: never become all he was created to be in that
Speaker 5: limited environment.
Speaker 4: That's why God pushed him out.
Speaker 5: And sometimes God will close a door because where you
Speaker 5: are is too small. You may not be able to
Speaker 5: see it's big. To you, it's fulfilling. But God's dream
Speaker 5: for your life is much bigger than yours. His idea
Speaker 5: of much is very different than our idea.
Speaker 4: I'm asking you to trust.
Speaker 5: Him in the cutback seasons. We're not going to understand
Speaker 5: everything that happens along the way. God knows what's best
Speaker 5: for us. That's why the scripture says His ways are
Speaker 5: not our ways. You may be in a time of pruning,
Speaker 5: you've had some cutbacks, you've gone the wrong direction. Now
Speaker 5: you'll kind of discourage recognize God is getting you in.
Speaker 4: Position for new growth. He wouldn't have pruned you if
Speaker 4: he didn't have something better.
Speaker 5: Now do your part, keep abiding, keep thanking him, keep
Speaker 5: trusting him, keep staying faithful. If you'll do this, I
Speaker 5: believe and declare that cutback is not permanent. Like my father,
Speaker 5: You're about to come in to much fruit. Abundance is coming,
Speaker 5: Promotion is coming, breakthroughs are coming. The fullness of your
Speaker 5: destiny in Jesus' name, and if you receive it, can
Speaker 5: you say him in today? Well, I'd like to give
Speaker 5: you an opportunity to make Jesus the lord of your life.
Speaker 4: Would you pray with me?
Speaker 5: Just say Lord Jesus, I'll repent of my sins. Come
Speaker 5: into my heart. I make you my Lord and savior.
Speaker 5: If you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got
Speaker 5: born again. Get in a good Bible based church, keep
Speaker 5: God first place.
Speaker 6: Thank you for listening to the Joel Oustine podcast. Help
Speaker 6: us continue to share the message of hope with those
Speaker 6: all over the world. Visit Joeloustin dot com slash give
Speaker 6: hope to give a gift today.
Speaker 4: Thanks so much for listening to today's message.
Speaker 5: I hope you'll subscribe so you can receive the latest
Speaker 5: podcast to keep you inspired all through the week.
Speaker 4: We're praying for you. I know God's best is still ahead.
Speaker 4: We'll see you next time.
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