Principle #1

Pruning Principle #1
Pruning puts pressure on you to
PRIORITI
change your
majorES.
___________
A. Pruning releases you from
STRENGT
using your weaknesses to using
your ____________ HS.
B. Pruning leverages your life
STRATEGI
by focusing you on the
C.
___________
 
 Principle #1

C.Pruning stimulates you to

RESOURC
reallocate your
ES.____________
primary
1. Pruning reprioritizes the way
youTIME.
invest
your _____
15
See then that you walk
circumspectly, not as fools but as
wise, 16redeeming the time,
because the days are evil.
Ephesians 5:15-16
 
 Principle #1

C.Pruning stimulates you to

RESOURC
reallocate your
primaryES.____________
2. Pruning reprioritizes the way
youTALENTS.
invest
your _________
20
“‘Lord, you delivered to me five
talents; look, I have gained five
more talents besides them.’ 21His
lord said to him, ‘Well done, good
and faithful servant; you were
faithful over a few things, I will
 
make you ruler over many things.
 Principle #1

C.Pruning stimulates you to

RESOURC
reallocate your
primaryES.____________
3. Pruning reprioritizes the way you
TREASUR
invest
yourE.___________
6
But this I say: He who sows sparingly
will also reap sparingly, and he who
sows bountifully will also reap
bountifully. 7So let each one give as
he purposes in his heart, not
grudgingly or of necessity; for God
 
loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is
 Principle #2

Pruning Principle #2
Pruning increases your productivity
PURPOSE
by clarifying your life __________
12
. on, that I may lay hold of that
I press
for which Christ Jesus has also laid
hold of me. 13One thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind and
reaching forward to those things which
are ahead, 14I press toward the goal for
the prize of the upward call of God in
Christ Jesus. 15Therefore let us, as
  many as are mature, have this mind;
and if in anything you think otherwise,
 Principle #2

A. Pruning seeks to help you

discover
YO why God laid hold of _____
U.
B. Pruning forgets the past failures
FUTU on
to focus
theRE.
________
LEGACY
C.Pruning causes you to focus upon
your .
lasting ________

 
 Principle #2

Pruning Principle #3
Pruning transforms and intensifies
yourPASSION.
heart _________
14
Who gave Himself for us, that He
might redeem us from every lawless
deed
A. and purify lessens
Pruning for Himself
theHis own
special people,
pleasure zealous
ACTIVITIE
you for goodfrom
experience works.
Titus 2:14
S.
unfruitful ___________
 
 Principle #2

B. Pruning intensifies your passion

by requiring personal ___________
SACRIFIC
7 E. things were gain to me,
But what
these I have counted loss for Christ.
8
Yet indeed I also count all things loss
for the excellence of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have
suffered the loss of all things, and
count them
C.Pruning as rubbish,
increases yourthat I may to
desire gain
Christ. Philippians 3:7-8
bringHEART.
great joy to God’s _______
 
 Conclusion

A. God wants you to know if He is

disciplining
PRUNING
or ._________
1. Ask yourself if there is any SI
known major ____ WN.
2. If unclear, ask God to reveal sin
EEK.
REVEAL
in one ______ ED. and
B. God disciplines his children
3. You may
REPENT.
desires you be in pruning if no sin
is __________
to ________
C.God
 
RELEAS
prunes His children and
E.
 
 
   
 Introduction

1
“I am the true vine, and My
Father is the vinedresser. 2Every
branch in Me that does not bear
fruit He takes away; and every
branch that bears fruit He prunes,
that it may bear more fruit.” John
15:1-2

 
 Process #1

The Pruning Process #1

The Lord’s Universal SYSTEM.
Pruning ________

 
 Process #1

A. Do you believe that God prunes

you atMOMENT
the
perfect? _________
1. Does He start pruning you atTIME
the perfect _____ ?
LENGT
H?
2. Does He prune you for the
DEPTH
perfect ________ ?
BREADT
3. Does He prune you to the
H?
perfect _______
4. Does He prune you at the
 
perfect __________
 Process #1

B. Do you believe that God prunes

you with the perfect _________
METHO
28
And D?
we know that all things work
together for good to those who love
God, to those who are the called
according
1. Does Hetocarefully
His purpose. Romans
select the
8:28
TOOL
absolute best pruning _______
TOOL
absolute best pruning _______
S? watch out for you by
2. Does He
PAIN?
limiting unnecessary _______
3. Does He stay intimately
 
COACH?
involved as your pruning
________
 Process #1

C.Do you believe God prunes you

with the
MOTIV
perfect
E? ________
31
What then shall we say to these
things? If God is for us, who can be
against us? 32He who did not spare His
own Son,He
1. Does buttruly
delivered
haveHim
yourupbest
for us
all,interests
how shall in
TIMES Hemind
not with Him______
at all also
freely give us all things? Romans 8:31-
2. Does? He ever use you and then
32
  FINISHE
discard you when He is _________
 Process #1

3. Does He ever forsake you when

you fail
PRUNNIN
His __________
35 G?
Who shall separate us from the love
of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or peril, or sword? 38For I
am persuaded that neither death nor
life, nor angels nor principalities nor
powers, nor things present nor things
to come, 39nor height nor depth, nor
 any other created thing, shall be able
 Process #2

The Pruning Process #2

The Lord’s Seven Pruning Tools
Pruning ToolPOSSESSI
#1: _____________
23 ONS
So it came to pass, when Joseph
had come to his brothers, that they
stripped Joseph of his tunic, the
tunic of many colors that was on
him.
Genesis 37:23
 
Money, house, furniture,
 Process #2

Pruning ToolPOSITION
#2: _________
Come therefore, let us now kill him
20

and cast him into some pit; and we

shall say, ‘Some wild beast has
devoured him.’ We shall see what will
become of his dreams!” 36Now the
Midianites had sold him in Egypt to
Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and
captain of the guard. Genesis
Position in the family, church, 37:20,
36
organization, community, business
 
 Process #2

Pruning ToolPHYSICAL
#3: _________
Then they took him and cast him into
24

a pit. And the pit was empty; there

was no water in it. Genesis 37:24
Sickness, weakness, discomfort,
exhaustion, pregnancy, blind,
deaf, aging

 
 Process #2

Pruning ToolPEOPLE
#4: ________
11
But it happened about this time,
when Joseph went into the house to do
his work, andFamily, friends,
none of the men of the
house was inside, 12
employer,that she caught
him by his garment, saying, “Lie with
employees, co-
me.” But he left his garment in her
hand, and fledworkers,
and ran outside. 13And
government,
so it was, when she saw that he had
left his garment in her hand and fled
strangers
outside, 14that she called to the men of
her house and spoke to them, saying,
 
“See, he has brought in to us a Hebrew
 Process #2

 
 Process #2

Pruning Tool PROFESSI

#5: ____________
4
So Joseph ON
found favor in his sight, and
served him. Then he made him
overseer of his house, and all that he
had he put under his authority. 19So it
was, when his master heard the words
which his wife spoke to him, saying,
“Your servant did to me after this
manner,” that his anger was aroused.
Job
20 title,
Then responsibilities,
Joseph’s master took him and
 
demotion/promotion,
put him into the prison. Genesis 39:4,
19-20a
success/failure, competition
 Process #2

PLACE
Pruning Tool #6: ______
Then Joseph’s master took him and
20

put him into the prison, a place where

the king’s prisoners were confined.
And he was there in the prison.
Genesis 39:20
Location of home, employment,
transfer, desk location, church
move

 
 Process #2

PLAN
Pruning Tool #7: _____
14
“But remember me when it is well with
you, and please show kindness to me;
make mention of me to Pharaoh, and
get me out of this house. 15For indeed I
was stolen away from the land of the
Hebrews; and also I have done nothing
here that they should put me into the
dungeon.” 23Yet the chief butler did not
Plans to get married, children, Then
remember Joseph, but forgot him. 1

it came to pass, at the end of two full

  education, succeed, finances,
years, that Pharaoh had a dream.
 Process #3

The Pruning Process #3

PREPARAT
The Lord’s Pruning Cycle of
______________ ION

 
 Process #3

A. Pruning prepares you to step

into moreROLES.
significant _______
Cycle 1: Youngest Son
Cycle 2: Overseer of Potiphar’s
House
Cycle 3: Overseer of the entire
Prison
Cycle 4: Leader of the Nation of
 
Egypt
40
 Process #3

B. Pruning 56 prepares you to handle

The famine was over
all the face of the
more RESPONSIBILITI
extensive earth,
ES. and Joseph
__________________
opened all the
Cycle 1: Menial tasks including
storehouses and sold
watching the sheep
to the Egyptians. And
Cycle 2: the
Managed
faminePotiphar’s
became home
affairssevere
and family business
in the land of
Cycle 3: Egypt.
Managed 57
Sothe
allgovernment
prison,countries
prisonerscame to
and personnel
Joseph in Egypt to buy
  Cycle 4: Managed the nation,
grain, because the
 Process #3

Now
C.Pruning prepares
6
Joseph
your was
to handle
major governor over the
tests with godly ____________
RESPONSE
land; and it was he
S. 1: Brothers
Cycle who betray
sold tohim, sell
all the
him for profit, becomes
people slave
of the land.
And Joseph’s
Cycle 2: Potiphar’s wife betrays
him and sentbrothers came and
to prison
bowed
Cycle 3: Butler downbetray
and baker
before himdream
him after interpreting with
their faces to the
Cycle 4: Brothers who
earth. betrayed
Gen 42:6
  him come asking for food
 The Pruning Precept

God prunes all fruit-bearing

believers by various methods
throughout their lifetime in order
to maximize the quantity and
quality of their fruit.

 
 Conclusion

5
“But now, do not therefore be grieved
or angry with yourselves because you
sold me here; for God sent me before
you to preserve life. 7And God sent me
before you to preserve a posterity for
you in the earth, and to save your lives
by a great deliverance. 8So now it was
not you who sent me here, but God;
and He has made me a father to
Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and
a ruler throughout all the land of
Egypt.
  Genesis 45:5, 7-8
 Conclusion

Now therefore, do not be afraid. I will

21

provide for you and your little ones.”

And he comforted them and spoke
kindly to them.
Genesis 50:21

 
 Conclusion

A. You can choose to actively

REJECT.
rebel
and ________
B. YouRELUCTAN
can chose to passively
resistT.
and REJOIC
remain ____________ E.
C.You can choose to proactively rest
and _________

 
 W
        
        e turn to God for help
when our foundations 
are shaking, only to learn 
that it is God who is 
shaking them.
Charles C. West

   
 J
      udge a tree from its fruit; 
not from the leaves.
Euripides

   
 A
        saint’s life is in the hands of God as a 
bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. 
God is aiming at something the saint 
cannot see; he stretches and strains, and 
every now and again the saint says, 
“I cannot stand any more.” But God does 
not heed; He goes on stretching until His 
purpose is in sight, then He lets fly. We are 
here for God’s designs, not for our own.
Oswald Chambers
   
 I
      n the Kingdom of God, 
the surest way to lose something 
is to try to protect it, and the best 
way to keep it is to let it go.
A. W. Tozer

   
 T     
     he mark of your ignorance 
is the depth of your belief in injustice 
and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls 
the end of the world, the Master 
calls a butterfly.
Richard Bach

   
 I
       f we study the lives of great 
men and women carefully and 
unemotionally, we find that, inevitably, 
greatness was developed, tested, and 
revealed through the darker periods of 
their lives. One of the largest tributaries 
of the River of Greatness is always 
the Stream of Adversity.
Cavett Roberts