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God bless you.

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Please say something kind to someone as you take your your seat. Hallelujah. Let's Go to work. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus being. Being stripped down to everything. This is an. This is an interesting passage of Scripture. It's not an unfamiliar passage. We've seen it before. We've studied it, and we've heard it preached. And oftentimes it can be very encouraging when it's preached. I'm in a pruning season, right? But when you have to live can be a tad bit confusing. And I want to talk about that, because if you take a close look at this passage, there are two totally different circumstances that Jesus is pointing out. Yet as it relates to the experience of those two circumstances, there are moments when those two experiences can seem the same. We're talking about those who are not bearing fruit. And as a result of them not bearing fruit, the Father removes them. And then it also says, and those who are bearing fruit, they get pruned. That's confusing. I can see how the ones who are not bearing fruit experience loss. That makes sense. You're not doing the right thing. You have the opportunity to produce fruit and you don't, and therefore there's loss.

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I kind of get that.

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But both groups seem to get the same thing. The ones who are not bearing fruit get lost.

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They suffer loss, and yet so does

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the one who is bearing fruit. And that for me, that's confusing. That's confusing because if I'm bearing fruit, then it seems to me like you would be so pleased with my fruit bearing that things ought to go well for me. I shouldn't have to suffer any sort of loss because I'm doing what I was called to and designed to do. This is the complicated nature of fruit. The complicated nature of fruit and its relationship with those who bear fruit is tricky because on the one hand, we are commanded to be fruitful in the very beginning. Be fruitful and multiply, right? And when we are aligned, we bring forth fruit. Fruit is a good thing. Psalm 1 talks about that, right? Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and his law. He meditates day and night. That's alignment. For he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water and brings forth his fruit in its season, whose leaves will not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. So fruit is a good thing, right? God desires fruit. We know that God wants fruit. Fruit is good, right? And fruit is oftentimes the evidence of there having been a connection with God. So fruit is not inherently bad. But here is the issue with fruit. Fruit can also be misleading. Stay with me. We're going somewhere today, I promise. Fruit can also be misleading because fruit. Watch. This can suggest connection. If I'm just looking at my fruit, I say, oh, I got fruit on my tree.

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I'm connected.

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When really all fruit is, is the evidence of a previous connection.

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Oh, we gonna have some fun today.

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Fruit is misleading.

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If I look on my tree and

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I see fruit, it can suggest that I have a connection with God.

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But the reality of it is it just means that, at minimum, you had

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a connection with God. Are you tracking with me? This is the strange relationship with fruit and the ones who bear it. Fruit is good. Watch this until it's misleading. Track with me. So when we look at these two groups on the outside, they both look like they're suffering loss, right? But they're in two different categories and two different situations. One of them is experiencing separation. The other one is experiencing preparation. Ooh, don't make me. Don't make me. Don't make me. So it looks the same.

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Looks like loss.

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (12:31)

It looks like something's happening I'm losing. But one is actually being prepared for something greater. And what I have learned is, is that God often times takes away everything that we're built upon to. To reveal where our help truly comes from. Stay with me. Stay with me. Stay with me. So. So both the unfruitful and the fruitful lose something, but both go through a cutting, a reduction and discomfort. But the difference between the one and the other is connection. And what I need you to understand is just because something is being removed, it doesn't mean you are being rejected. If you stay with me, it's going to make a whole lot of sense in just a second. Just track with me this concept of being naked and unashamed in the garden. Our design. Our design was that we were created in the image and the likeness of God. We had relationship with God, we were connected to God, and our disposition was naked and unashamed. We had no shame. But then, if we go to Genesis chapter three and verse seven, we see a shift take place. It says, then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sowed fig leaves together. Watch this. And made themselves coverings. Okay, there's a lot in there. There's a lot in there. Okay, so it says that after the serpent comes and gets them to doubt what God is doing, gets them to Question God. And we talked about it before and so they went from knowing to wondering and then ultimately to wandering. It produces a misnowing. Because what's interesting is it says then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked, but yes, they were naked, but they were misperceiving what to be naked was. Oh, we gonna get it. We don't get it. We don't get it. We don't get it. They were misperceiving. So it wasn't like a true knowing, it was a misnowing. And how do you know? It's because they started moving differently afterwards.

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Now all of a sudden, watch this.

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They go to a fruit bearing tree. A fig tree is a fruit tree bearing tree. And now watch this. They are taking what comes from a fruit bearing tree. And now they have shifted from God's covering to the fruit of that which comes from the fruit now being their covering. Don't play with me. Just walk with me. Just walk with me. Strange relationship with fruit. They were covered, they were connected to

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the source, they didn't need any covering. They were covered and they were unashamed. They weren't lacking anything, they weren't afraid of anything, they didn't need any, anything. And all of a sudden now the

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fruit becomes their protector. That which comes from the fruit, the leave came from the fruit bearing tree. And now watch this, their relationship with fruit change. And so what I sense that God wants to do is he wants to get some of us to come back to that garden level. Nakedness. Oh, God, when he prunes, what he is doing is he is stripping

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our reliance

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on the fruit away from us

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to remind us that it's not about the fruit. The fruit is not divine, The Lord is divine. And so what God has to do in order to get us back

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to the truth about our source and our covering is he has to prune us of the fruit. Can I take my time and teach this thing? So, so, so, so we're getting back to what we really need. Let me make it a little practical real quick and I'll continue. It is very easy to rely more on the blessing than on the blessor, Mara.

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And it's subtle.

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It is a very subtle shift. It doesn't announce itself because there is a connection between the blessing and the blessor. The blessor gave it to you, you

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prayed for it, and God handed it to you.

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And so the fruit feels like God and it smells like God and it reminds you of God and yet it ain't God. Mm. And so, and so when God is purposing, when he is purposing to do

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something new

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in you and through you because he perceives that this season of your life requires. Watch this.

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A more pure version of you. He will begin to strip away at things that have become unbeknownst to you,

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idols in your life. Why would he prune the fruit bearer? It's because the fruit bearer has the tendency to take shelter and safety under the shade of the fruit and not the one who gave the ability to produce the fruit. Can I talk to you like this today? We're gonna get to the good stuff in just a minute. And so. So that's what I'm trying to explain. What's happening? Stripped down to nothing, stripped down to everything is about being stripped away of false coverings. False coverings. Coverings that aren't covering from. Watch this. Stripped of self made identity. When, when God removes. Watch this. What we have been hiding behind. He's not exposing you to shame you. He is restoring you to truth. Because for where some of you are going is you are going to have to be the real thing, baby. Where God is taking you.

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You are not going to be able

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to be a fair weather believer.

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I praise God and I shout when things are going well. And then I struggle and I doubt when things are not going. God is trying to temper our lives in such a way. Watch this.

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Hear me.

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That we're not moved by blessing nor difficulty. I feel the Holy Ghost that we are steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Come hell a high water. I'm not shaken by blessing or difficulty. That's where we're going.

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The Bible talks about us maturing in

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such a way that we are no

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longer tossed to and fro.

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God is raising up some people who are steady, who don't rock every time challenging news comes. And in order to produce that in our lives he has to begin to strip us of things that we have subconsciously begin to associate

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with God's hand on our lives. See, God has many ways to bless us. But oftentimes we only attribute the blessing

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of God to Watch this.

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The blessings that feel good.

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Can I talk to you for a second? Because ain't no doubt about it, we're going to have to go through some difficult times. It is true. And if the enemy can come to you and. And tell you just because you're going through a difficult time, God is not with you. You will abandon the faith tossed to and fro by the trickery of men. Let me tell you something. Satan has got a doctrine for you, baby. But we're moving into a time where you're going to have to learn to take a licking and keep. I want to say this right.

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (24:13)

We are moving into a time where

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you're going to have to know that you know that you know that you know that you know that you know that you know that you know you're going to have to keep. You talk about walking by faith. That's where this thing is headed, baby. But the wonderful thing about those who know that they know that they know that they know God's gonna anoint them in this season to do great exploits. You're gonna experience the power of God through your life unlike ever before. I see the dead raising. I see demons flee. I see strongholds breaking. I see you laying hands on the sick and they recover. Come on, somebody. You're about to be a version of yourself you have never seen before. If that's your word, give God a shout. That's what this whole thing is about.

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (25:30)

I got to take my time. You know, God sees and knows what we need when we need him. God knows when you need to be ready for something that's coming, something that's on your life. And God, he has to send you into camp to get you to your fighting weight. I feel the Holy Ghost. I was thinking about, thinking about the boxer. And there's a reason why fighters talk about getting down to their fighting weight before a fight. Watch this. They are stripped of excess weight. They cut things that feel normal. They eliminate comfort. They're in camp. This is not happening in the public. This is not happening in the public, baby. They go off. One of my best friends is a fighter, champion fighter. They go off to a camp where it ain't nobody but them and the trainer. They go away one way and they

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come back another way.

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Some of you, what you don't realize is that you're in camp, baby.

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And I came to let you know that this thing ain't happening to you. This thing is happening for you. You are in camp, baby, because there are things coming. And God is saying, I love you too much to leave you out of shape. I'm getting ready to build you, to develop you, to strengthen you, to anoint you.

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (27:48)

Let me teach in camp. The excess weight is stripped. They start cutting what feels normal. Normal is their enemy. Did you hear what I just said? Normal and familiar is an enemy. So when things seem like they're just normal. Watch this. A fighter gets nervous because they Realize

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that they got to level up.

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Smooth sailing. Let me tell you something.

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I've come to a place in my life.

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When things get too quiet, when things

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get too smooth, when I ain't had to fight nothing, I start getting nervous. God, am I even in your will? Because your word says that I'm in a battle. Am I even in your will? I'm not saying that we go looking for trouble. I'm just saying that trouble doesn't mean that God's not with you.

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (28:52)

Trouble just means you're in camp, baby. You're in camp. So, so, so, so, so, so these boxes, they start eliminating stuff. They start eliminating what they've grown used to track with me. And it's interesting because a fighter of a heavier weight might feel stronger, but they're actually less effective. How does that relate to you? When everything's going good, that might be when you feel the strongest. Oh, hallelujah. When your money is flowing, strong. When your relationships are great, strong. When your children are doing well, strong. When there's no affliction in your body, strong. Come on, somebody. When there are multiple opportunities, strong. It's not a matter of if you're going to eat. It's a matter of what are you going to strong. And that is an illusion. That's an illusion because even as it relates to the boxer, right? More weight, right? Or let's call it more blessing. Watch. This means slower hands, Less endurance, can't go to different distance, reduced sharpness, compromised discipline. But you don't know that when you, when you're weighty, when you're heavy, you don't know that. And God loves you too much to leave you heavy track with me. So they submit themselves into a process that feels like loss, but it's really optimization. God is optimizing you right now, getting you to your fighting weight. So pruning. We're almost there. We're almost, almost there. Pruning is spiritual weight cutting. It's when God starts removing distractions, dependencies. Watch this. Identities that you have outgrown habits that slow you down. Just turn to your neighbor and say, you're in camp. And if you don't understand what God is doing, you'll think to yourself, God is taking something away from me. But if you listen closely, heaven is saying, no, he's not. I am preparing you. I'm getting you ready. Because some of what you are losing isn't strength. It's weight. And we think that weight is strength, and it's not. And so here is the thing. Why Now. Well, now is because fighters do not wait until fight night to cut the weight. See, we would wait until the last minute, but God has to prepare you to ensure that you have the victory. So God does it in camp, in the quiet, in the hidden place, in the disciplined place. And here's the thing. Nobody applauds the weight cut. No one even talks about camp. No one applauds camp. But they get excited when they see the victory. So, so, so, so. So let's talk about this. So in this season, you don't need more to win. You need less. God told me to tell me. God told me to tell you you're going to. In this season, you're going to do more with less. And he wanted me to let you know that you're not being reduced, you're being refined for an even greater impact. I want to teach this thing. So let's talk about this Camp Cocoon. This camp Cocoon. Camp Cocoon. If you think about the process of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, this all happens in a cocoon. It all happens in a cocoon, kind of like a camp. It's a hidden place. It's an isolated place where development is taking place. Now, check this out. The caterpillar evolve. The caterpillar does not evolve into a butterfly. The caterpillar literally dissolves. If you study the process, you all know this. You study the process, it doesn't just morph from a caterpillar into a butterfly. Watch this. Everything that looked like a caterpillar is stripped. And before it becomes a butterfly, it turns into, like, caterpillar soup. Nothing of its former form is present. And yet God is still working. So the caterpillar is stripped down to everything. See, we always talk about a new version of you. And I understand that. I understand that. But some of you, God is not doing a Toure 2.0.

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There are some seasons where God has

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to strip you all the way down to produce in you the you that can win in the season that you're in.

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This is not an evolution.

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This is something different. Track with me. I want to take my time with this. So this caterpillar loses its former identity completely. Can you imagine how disorienting that is? It's in this cocoon. It's dark. It has lost everything that is familiar to. Has lost its structure entirely. And yet all is not lost. Because sometimes, in order for God to really shape you according to what he knew before he put you in your mother's womb, he cannot simply upgrade you. There are some seasons where you cannot upgrade your computer. This thing is gone. I need a new one. It is over. Are we tracking? So so. So there are some versions of you that cannot be improved.

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Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (37:16)

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Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (38:01)

They've got to be dissolved and there's no way around it. Only through it. Think about Jesus. Jesus had to go all the way down. Do you hear me? He had to go all the way down in order to come all the way up and to bring us with him. So check this out. I was thinking about something. Why would God allow us to go through something that takes us all the way down? God, can you just take me halfway down? Can we negotiate this skin? Can you take me three quarters of the way down, please? Jesus, do I have. Do I have to go? Do I have to go all the way down?

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I mean, God, like, ooh, all the way down.

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And I saw something in Hebrews that helped me to understand why God can trust the process of us going all the way down. It's in Hebrews 7:25, it says, therefore he is also able to say saved to the uttermost. Did you catch it? In other words, he can take you down to the uttermost because he can raise you up. To the uttermost. Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since he only always lives to make intercession for him. Now, let's talk about the tension of the cocoon. This. This stripping process. The stripping process. I was thinking about what is known as Holy Saturday. We know Good Friday. We got that right? Right? And we know Sunday. Good Friday was the crisis. Sunday was the breakthrough. But we often hear about Holy Saturday. It's the in between. It's camp. It's the cocoon. I can make it through Good Friday because I have a little bit of hope that God can deliver me from this crisis on Friday. Right? I know my God is able to deliver me so I can get through Good Friday. I don't like it hurts, but God's going to come through. I heard a good sermon. I got a good word. God's going to come through. But then Saturday rolls around, and it ain't Sunday.

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Sunday's easy.

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Breakthrough. Hallelujah. But Holy Saturday, that's the place. Because in Holy Saturday, we are blessed with the hidden gift of tension. Stay with me. Stay with me. And this is where most people quit. Most people quit in the spot. Most people quit in camp. They quit in the cocoon because it's not that place where they experience difficulty and have an expectation of breakthrough. And it's not breakthrough. It's in that middle. And that middle sometimes is long. And if it isn't long, it feels long. But there's something beautiful and wonderful happening. Because this in between place, Holy Saturday, is. It's a gift. Because it's a place of purity and maturity that you arrive at, that you can't get there any other way. It's when you have to wrestle. It's when you have to face all your fears. Oh, I got to say this, right? It's when the liar is reframing your circumstances in the most dire ways.

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And you got to fight back with truth.

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There is this battle going on, and

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it's brutal and it's bloody and it's

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ugly and it's difficult and it's challenging. Watch this.

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And you have to fight it by yourself. You can't bring your mama in there with you. You can't bring your daddy in there with you. You can't bring your pastor.

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You can't bring your spouse.

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It is just you

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in this camp.

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And oftentimes, God doesn't say anything new.

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Every once in a while, God sets

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it up in such a way that you are going to have to eat off of what he said. Before, because now, in that place of Holy Saturday, that word has to try you. I'm not giving you a new word in this season. I've already spoke to you about it. And you have been trained already and developed already. I've already equipped you. I've been equipping you your whole life. I was making deposits every Sunday, every Wednesday, every podcast, I was making deposits. And because I know you, I know

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what I put in you.

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But I got to get you down to your fighting weights. I've got to strip you of everything else and get you down to the

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bare bones of my word. Holy Saturday. Holy Saturday is the place where the believers made. Oh, I feel that thing. It's where the believer is truly made. Jesus had to go through it. I'm talking about before the grave. He had to go through. It was in the wilderness before. Watch this. Before he could even launch out and step into the fullness of his ministry, he had to go through like a little Holy Saturday where the enemy was throwing all kind of stuff at him, lying to him, trying to ill frame his circumstances. And he fought him for 40 days and rebuked him. Watch this. What was he dealing with? He was dealing with two realities. The reality that Satan was trying to bring his way, and the reality of what the Father had taught him because he was the Word he he knew.

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And after that, after that, he comes

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out in the power of the Spirit and his ministry began. Some of you are despising camp. Some of you are misreading the cocoon. And I'm telling you right now, it is in that tension was something beautiful. Something beautiful. It's when. When every disciple said, lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. It's when all of your belief gets unbelief, your disbelief, all of your unbelief gets killed. And you arise with a knowing. You come out of that thing with a knowing, with a flowing. You're standing tall. Watch this. And you become unshakable. So I'm going to give you really quickly five things to remember when you're in camp. Five things to remember when you're in the cocoon. Here are the five things. Number one. Number one, God knows exactly where you are. Job 23 and 10. But he knows the way I take. Hallelujah. And when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. You can be in a place in camp, in your cocoon, and it will feel like God has completely forgotten about you. That's not true. God knows exactly where you are. And in Job's Context. Watch this. God arranged that situation. And the only way and reason that God would arrange your camp, your cocoon, is if he has already seen you on the other side. Not just getting through it, but better because of it. So, number one, God knows exactly where you are. And when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. You are not lost in the process. You are positioned in purpose. There's a song. I'm right where I'm supposed to be. God hasn't lost you. God doesn't mismanage purpose. He doesn't mismanage lives and mismanage destinies. We just have to trust Him, Number one. He knows where I am. Number two, when you can't see God's hand, you must trust his heart. There will be seasons in the cocoon where you cannot detect God's hand, not realizing that his hand is on you the entire time. I'm thinking about the Word which says, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delights in his way. To Psalm 37:23, it says, though he fall, he shall not utterly be cast down, for the Lord upholds him by his righteous right hand. So you can be in a season where you feel like you're falling or you're being stripped, and you say, God, I wish you would put your hand on me. And. And he's saying, my hand is on you. My hand is holding you. I am the reason why you're still able to breathe and move and think and function, even though this thing would have otherwise wiped you out. So I have to trust the heart. I have to trust the way God feels about me when I can't see his hand. That's number two. Number three, you have to remember that you are safe in this process. Yes, camp is scary. Yes, the cocoon is scary, but you're safe. Jeremiah 29:11. For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope. In other words, God is not experimenting with your life. He is executing a plan. Are you hearing me? He's executing a perfect plan concerning your life. Number four, you have to remember that the season is temporary. Second Corinthians 4:17. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment. But for a moment, light affliction. Now, I'll be honest with you. It may not feel like a light affliction. Let me see your hand. If you ain't in a light affliction, it don't feel light. The writer is not being insensitive to what you may be facing. He's not being insensitive to that. He is speaking ultimately, in hindsight, when God gets finished bringing you through camp, when he gets finished bringing you through the cocoon, and you experience the greater weight of glory, in other words, we when you get your wings, you're going

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to look back and say, oh, that

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was a light affliction. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed. Are you tracking with me? So you have to remember it is temporary. And when you get on the other side of it, you're going to realize that it was light. And and last but not least, number five, your emergence is certain. If you do not quit, you are coming out. If you don't quit. Galatians 6 and 9 and let us not be weary in our well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. So here's what I want to do. A couple things. I am utterly convinced that God is developing us. I do not believe that the expression of the believer up to this point is going to be prepared for the times that we're moving in. I believe that God literally is putting us into camp so that we can get to a divine and spiritual fighting weight, so that we will not only survive the forthcoming seasons, but that we will thrive in them. Because I know with all of my heart that God is getting ready to

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make us the heads and not the tails above only and not beneath. But it will not happen if we're still on the milk. It will not happen if we are playing church. It will not happen if we are easily shaken. Everything that can be shaken must be shaken so that that which cannot be shaken can remain. And there's a you that can withstand the season. There's a you that's called to do great exploits. There is a you. And deep is calling the deep. And God is getting ready to shake things around you, to manifest and produce what he knew about you. Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost. I wish I had about a thousand people who were ready to be everything that God called him to be. Send me to camp. Send me to the cocoon. God. I don't want to be lacking. Here's what it says in James. James said, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. What are you talking about? Count it joy when you're falling into trials. What? How can I count it joy when I'm going through? He says, knowing this, that the testing of Your faith is producing something. It's producing endurance. But let patience have its perfect work, that you might be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. You're not going down. You're coming up. You're not getting down to nothing. You're getting down to everything. I wish I had about 1500 radical Holy Ghost, hundred people giving God worship in this house. I know what I'm saying. Talking about. I know what I'm talking about. You're getting ready to move differently. You're getting ready to be steadfast, unmovable. Huh? I ain't gonna lie. It's expensive, but it's worth it. He's the God of the harvest. Sow that seed, sow that suffering, sow that struggle. Sow that relentlessness. I hear God saying, if you sow it, the harvest of you, you gonna be the harvest. I don't even have to send the harvest. You're gonna look in the mirror and see the harvest. Look at what the Lord has done. Look at what he made me into. Look at how he shaped me. Look at how he made me. Look at how he raised me. Look at how that anxiety is gone. Look at how that depression is gone. Look at how strong I am. Look at how I don't need those things that I thought I needed. I realized that all I needed was him. Strip, babies, strip. Strip, baby, strip. I don't want nothing in my life that's lying to me. If you got to take it, take it. See, we got idols that we didn't even know we had. Hallelujah.

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (56:45)

I'mma tell you how you know that

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you got an idol

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (56:52)

if it's taken

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from you,

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (56:55)

you start questioning God. I'm going to tell you how you know that you have an idol. When you lose it, you lose your whole faith. I'm going to tell you how you know. You forget all about your calling

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when

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (57:22)

you get hit with it. What idol in our lives is in God's sight in this season?

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God says,

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (57:43)

I'm not stripping you down to nothing. I'm stripping you to get you to everything. I am. I am. I am. If the enemy can take something from you and you're questioning the whole thing, that was an idol. And God. God wants to bring us to a place where we say, naked, I came in

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sh.

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (58:33)

Naked, I came in naked, I'm going out. Blessed. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Though he slay me yet will I trust him. Some trust in horses, some trust in chariots.

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But I can trust in the name of the Lord,

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (58:59)

because

Co-Presenter or Assistant (59:02)

can we go a Little deeper.

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (59:05)

Because we're going to move into a time where things are going to get tough and the enemy is going to offer relief. Can I talk to you like a prophet real quick? Gonna move to a time that's what he did the same thing to Jesus. I know you hungry. I know you have watch this. A God induced hunger because God called him to the fast. I know you have a God induced hunger. Here, eat some bread. Eat some bread. You can eat some bread. And Jesus says, man shall not live by bread alone. But by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, God is trying to. God is getting us strong. He's getting us strong and he's getting us clear so that we don't watch this, so that we don't turn into Judas'.

Co-Presenter or Assistant (60:24)

Judas was all good.

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (60:29)

As long as times were good. He was all good.

Co-Presenter or Assistant (60:38)

He is there with the 12.

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (60:42)

There's nothing to suggest that he was corrupt from the start. He was moving and flowing with everybody else. Now he was ordained to fail. But there's nothing to suggest that he was corrupt from the start. The pressure got to him, circumstances got to him. Watch this. And he betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Look at how low he went. And we look at Judas and we say, hey, not so fast, not so fast. And so God has to strip us. He has to strip us from the

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stuff

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (61:35)

that we thank God for. And yet it becomes our new covering. Adam and Eve did it, had a misknowing. And next thing you know they're covering themselves with the blessing. And God says, what are you doing? Where are you?

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Where art thou?

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (62:04)

I was afraid. I was afraid. And so, and so I took from the fruit tree, the fig tree, it's a fruit bearing tree. And I took the leaves I took from the blessing and tried to cover myself with the blessing. And we can look at that and say, I'll never do that. Not so fast. Not so fast. Every dimension that God has taken me to has required a willingness to submit and surrender. The dimension that I was previously on I wish I could say that better. The level that you prayed for. Sometimes God will require. To test your heart. Was it about the level or was it about me? And if he required it, if he required it, rich young ruler, if he required it, would you give away everything you had give to the poor and follow him? Look at what God was promising. God didn't say, sell everything you have not be with me. He said, okay, one thing you lack and this is the Lord. And he was asking God, watch this.

Co-Presenter or Assistant (63:49)

What it would take for him to

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (63:51)

be better, more righteous. God has said, one thing you lack. Homie say, yeah, you're doing all those things, but here's one thing you lack. You don't have the stuff. The stuff has you. And that is your biggest issue. The man wasn't a whoremonger. Not from the text, at least. Jesus didn't call him on it. Maybe he just said, I'm not going to deal with that right now. You have a bigger issue. He wasn't on drugs. Jesus says, that's not your biggest problem. Your biggest problem is you're covering yourself with fig leaves. And here is the thing. Two things. One, the rich young ruler went away sad. He knew that he was wrong, but it had him. It had him. Here's another thing Jesus said after Peter began to question Jesus, Peter was like, well, man, he got off easy. Yeah, I left everything. I left my little fishing business to follow you. Jesus said, peter, come here. He said, come here, come here. Let me holler at you. Come here. And Jackie said, there's no one who has left houses and lands and this and that for my sake, who will not receive now in this time, 100 fold. Now in this time, everything that they gave up and eternal life. So the issue is never about the fruit. It's about what we cover ourselves with.

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Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (66:59)

And there's no other way to get you to your fighting weight than for him to start shaking. Stuff.

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Stuff.

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (67:07)

Testing even. He even shook Isaac to shake Abraham. He was shaking Isaac. He was stripping. Watch this. He was stripping Abraham of Isaac. He said you love that boy, huh? You pray for that boy? You like that boy? You love that boy. You love him real good, don't you? Yeah, he cute too. Look at good little boy. You love that boy, huh? Let me hold that. Let me hold that real quick. Let me hold that real quick. Let me hold that real quick. I'mma need that. I'm going need that. It wasn't that the Lord thought that there was anything wrong with the blessing and that's why of course the Lord is not a murderer. But look at what he says. You got to study when you get a chance. Genesis, chapter 22, I believe. Read your whole Bible, you will find it. He says, after he says, okay, who's going to do it? He tells him not to do it. And then he says, he says to them, he said, now I can trust you. Now I know you will withhold nothing from me.

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Now go and be blessed.

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (68:21)

Blessing.

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I will bless you and multiple.

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (68:24)

I will multiply you. And Abraham goes on to be the father of faith. Some of you are just in camp getting down to your fighting weight. Be not weary in your well doing, for in due season you will reap if you don't give up. Couple things really. Practically every time I teach now, I take my notes and I put them on my sub stack so that you can go back and you can listen to the message, the audio. You can listen, watch the video and you can go to the sub stack. I create that resource so we can stay connected. You can keep chewing on it and they'll put a QR code up there. You can do that there. I want to pray for some people. Here's where I'm at. If this spoke to you, I want you to identify what may be being stripped right now. And you think it's the enemy, but it may not be the enemy. Or if it is the enemy, God is using the enemy like he did with Job to ultimately get Job to tenfold. The reason why God would allow Job to go through is because God was looking at the tenfold return. Study it. Job came out of that thing tenfold. So God was looking at the tenfold from the start. It wasn't fun, it wasn't sexy. And he went through this process of being stripped and formed. Watch this. He came out of there thinking differently. He, he came out of there knowing. He said, I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear. Oh, but now my eyes see. That's knowing. That's knowing. I want you to think about. I want you to identify what's being Stripped. And I want you to bring it to the altar. What idol? What have you been covering yourself with? What is God talking to you about? And we're going to bring that idol and we're going to lay it at the altar no matter what it is. I want you to reframe if you're in a camp, and if you're not in camp, you will be. You will be. Because we all need it. I want you to reframe it. I don't want you to see it as punishment. I want you to see it as pruning. Back to the text. Two scenarios. They look the same. They both look like loss, but only one was. The other was preparation. God getting you ready, getting you to your fighting weight.

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Ooh.

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (71:32)

Here's another reason why God wants to get you to a place where you're not moved by blessing or breakdown. It's because God is getting ready to put some. And this is for who it's for. God is getting ready to put you in a situation, in an economic situation, through business that is significant, and he needs for it to not change you. Money changes you. Especially when you start moving in 7, 8, 9, 10 figures, it changes you. And so for some of you, this has to happen because of the opportunity that's getting ready to come your way. And even in the way that you. I feel this is prophetically for somebody and even in the way that you negotiate, a person who is not desperate, a person who is not like, oh, my God, oh, my God over some resource, they negotiate differently. They show up in the business transaction much differently. There's a posture, there's a pace, there's a calmness. And that's why God's got to establish. He's got to settle you. Because there are things coming your way that will carry you away if you haven't been stripped down to everything. This is not about what is. It's about what's next. But God doesn't prepare you for the fight. At the time of the fight. He pre prepares you. So I need you to reframe. This is not punishment. This is pruning. This is preparation. And I want you, if you have been wrestling with this, I want you to stop fighting this process. Surrender to it. God's got you. You're safe. He knows where you are. Trust his heart. Know that it's temporary and it will happen and work and all be resolved. If you don't quit. If you're here and you don't know the Lord and you want to know God, you hear, watch this, and you feel uncovered. Maybe you feel naked and ashamed. I want us all to stand if we can. It's a holy moment. We're almost done. We'll be finished in seven minutes. If you're here and you don't know the Lord and you feel uncovered and you feel ashamed, God loves you for real. And watch this. And he is not the one that is making you feel ashamed. There's someone here, and you're struggling with addiction. And God says, I'm going to break it today. I'm literally going to break it if you give it to me. Maybe that's your idol. Maybe that's what's being shaken. He says, if you surrender, I'll take it. That's you. Come meet me here, though. That was very clear. I was very clear from the Lord. I just want you to come. Just get. Get down here. You've been wanting to be free. Now is the moment of opportunity, and all you got to do is say, God, I give it to you. And it's going to break right here at the altar during prayer. Want to open up your heart to the Lord Jesus. You're watching via live stream. This is for you. This is not just the room. You're in the room. If there's something you need to lay down, put it right there in the feed. God, I'm laying down. This. This addiction, alcoholism is harming me and my family and my future. Lord, I'm giving it to you. I smoke dope. Can't help it. Well, here's what's in your power to surrender it and give it to him. Come into agreement with God about it. Stop wrestling, stop justifying it. Come into agreement. And God's going to break. It says if we confess our sins. Confess. Confess. Homo logeo same. Speak. Speak the same thing. If I confess, if I come into agreement with my words about that, God says he is faithful and just. Not just to forgive, but to cleanse. God says, I'll cleanse you. I'll clean you up. Now you are clean by the word that I've spoken to you, says Jesus. If you're here and you know the Lord, you're in relationship with the Lord, but you need to come back home. Come here. Come here. Come here. Meet us here at the altar right now. Come on down. You need to come back home. Come back home. Now is not the time to not be in the ark. This is an ark. We're grateful. Come on, Pray well, Father, I was obedient to the word you gave me to speak. And your word will not return unto you void, but it will establish that for which you sent it. I thank you, God, that your word is more than revelatory and instructional. It's anointed to produce what the word is. So as your sons and daughters are coming into agreement with this word, I thank you, God, for the breakthrough that is happening in their hearts and their minds and their spirits and their souls in real time. I thank you, God, that your hand is on each and every one of these, your sons and daughters, to bless, to manifest breakthrough, to give peace, to deliver, to uproot, to impose heart, to strengthen, to heal, to cleanse. It is upon them they are set apart. And I thank you, God, that you're setting. I see this in the spirit, I want to describe it. You're setting a clear path forward before there was obstacles. But I hear God saying, I'm clearing. I'm going ahead of you and I'm making your crooked path straight. It is not behind you, it is before you. It is in front of you. And I am freeing you to walk. It's almost like the woman caught in the act of adultery. She was caught until Jesus said, go in, go. There was. It was not just you. Go in your own strength. In go. He was making a way for her to move forward, delivering her from the bondage, from being literally trapped in that moment by her accusers. Go and sin no more.

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Go. I got. Go.

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (78:29)

I've made a way for you to walk in. Go, go. I've made a way for you to walk in victory. I thank you for your precious love, for your precious people. I thank you for the sovereign work you've done in their hearts and in their minds. I thank you that they'll never be the same again. This is not an upgrade. This is not an evolution. This is an emerging. And I thank you that the gates of hell cannot stop it, cannot slow it, cannot quench it. This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. I want you to repeat after me. Heavenly Father, I thank you for your love. I feel it. Heavenly Father, I thank you for your word which you spoke to me. I receive it. Heavenly Father, I thank you for Jesus. Thank you for making him who had no sin, all of mine, all of my weaknesses, all of my limitation, all of my shortcomings, every way I missed the mark you placed in his body, nailed it to the cross and put it to death. And as he was raised up free and victorious on the third day, because I'm in him, raised up too. God, I trust you with this season. You will not leave me nor forsake me. You will walk with me, you will talk with me, you will protect me and you will keep me. I love you Lord. Now I surrender everything that I've made as an idol in my life. I don't put my trust in things nor in fruit, but I put my trust in you and you only. I rededicate my heart, my mind, my soul to you. Yours have your way in my life. I trust you. You who have begun a good work in me will complete it until the

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day of Jesus Christ.

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (81:17)

I know that you are faithful to keep what I've entrusted to you.

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I love you, Lord.

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (81:26)

Now Holy Spirit, fill me to the overflow that I might have the mind

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of Christ

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (81:35)

strengthen me and establish me unlike ever before. I love you Lord, because you first love me. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

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May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he make his face to shine

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (81:53)

upon you and be gracious towards you.

Co-Presenter or Assistant (81:55)

May he lift up his countenance over you and grant you shalom. Shalom in Jesus.

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (82:01)

Name two things real quick. If you're joining the church, we have

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pastors to our left. We'll be there to pray with you. If you want to go deeper, download or go to Substack and get that,

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (82:12)

I'll see you outside for book signing.

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Love you. God bless you.

Podcast Host (Potter's House Podcast Outro) (82:18)

That's a wrap for today's episode of the Potter's House podcast. Subscribe for more. Keep your fire lit and your faith immovable.

Main Speaker / Pastor / Preacher (82:31)

Parlor

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