Woman Evolve with Sarah Jakes Roberts - Get Out of Your Own Way

Episode Date: October 30, 2025

Sis… sometimes the only way through the chaos is on your knees. We're throwing it back to Sunday's message, but Pastor Sarah reminds us that worship is a strategy, not just something to sing and do on Sunday. When life feels heavy, when the promise looks far and the process is processing, God meets us right in the middle. In "Get Out of Your Way." Pastor Sarah breaks down how surrender unlocks strategy, how process builds power, and how even in the crushing, there's oil being produced. So if you've been wondering how to make it through what you're facing, start here. Because in this season, the worshippers win. Tap in, turn it up, and let this word remind you: you're not buried, you're being planted.

What's up family? It's your girl, Sarah Jake's Roberts, and I am coming to you live for the Woman Evolved podcast. And I just wanted to take a moment. I know last week when we spoke, you guys knew that I was going to be speaking on Sunday. And that word grief and sorrow really dropped in my spirit the moment that I began praying. And I don't know if you are actively not paying attention or just maybe so in your world and your world is so overwhelming that you haven't quite yet put a pulse on all of the things that are happening in the world. But it's a little thick out here. Some would even say it's a bit scurry and the world is changing right before our eyes and it's unclear what it's going to look like. And as we move into this moment of the unknown guy grace me

with the privilege of sharing the word at the Potter's House in Dallas on Sunday. And as much as I wanted to offer a message of perhaps hope and excitement, I discovered in my own prayer time that there's a grief that is an undercurrent of our day-to-day existence. And if this doesn't apply to you, maybe send it to someone else. But I do think the world-changing has created a grief. And whether that's the potential for war or the reality that artificial intelligence is impacting the livelihood of so many people or that the government shut down is having a negative impact on families, it's just hard to not feel God's heart for what's happening in the world. And when I think about God's heart for what's happening in the world, I'm reminded of when Jesus looked at the multitude. and he said to the disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

That means that there are a harvest of souls of people who are in need of light, of love, of healing, and restoration, but very few people are in a position to labor. And maybe we're not in a position to labor because we're experiencing our own moments of go-through. Well, Sunday, I tried to share a message about being in process and how being in process can be vulnerable, sometimes excruciating, or if you're like Jesus in the Garden of Gathrimony, it can be sorrowful. And it feels like a right now message. I was supposed to do a solo episode this week, but I feel like I want to share that message with you.

I pray that it blesses you and that it's something that meets you where you are. And though I said I wanted a message that would be hopeful, I do believe that there's a hope in truth and acknowledgment. and feeling seen and having language for what we're going through in a way that maybe we didn't have before. This message is really stuck with me. I'm still chewing on it, still marinating on it, and I hope it blesses you too. I've got a word I want to share with you. I'm in Matthew 26.

I have to tell you, come on, yeah, y'all come on now, Big Chris is gone, so in his memory, let a rip. I remember when we first moved and, you know, I don't know if y'all know this or not, but, you know, the Lord built this house, you know, through Bishop T.D. Jakes and, you know, he's a, he knows how to string a few sentences together. And I remember the first time I was preaching. And Chris goes, that's the word. That's the word.

I said, oh, I'm preaching, preaching now. he will certainly be missed. This is a big church, I know that, and if you're maybe not as comfortable in big environments, I just want you to know that we go out of our way to make the big place feel as small and connected and intimate as possible, and that you matter to us,

that you're not just a sea of faces, that you matter to us. There's a couple in my head you're a couple. I haven't met you. You sit up there, weekend, a week out. You guys have a locks. I see you guys week in and week out. And I see you guys up there. You come in. Y'all get real happy when bishop preached, but then y'all gave us a chance up in the corner of you. And sometimes you come with your daughters. I'll be seeing y'all is what I'm saying.

Because you matter to us. And our prayers always, God, help us to see the people in this room. To not think that this is a platform or a mega church because these are your sons and daughters. and you all matter to us. And so it matters when our family experiences a loss, and it matters to us when you're going through. We love you. We really, really love you here at the Potter's House. We really do.

And you're seeing. You just turn to a person who's saying, I see you. I'm glad you're here. Thank you for giving the house a chance for coming again over and over again. I got on. All right now. Wrap it up.

All right. All right, that's enough fellowshiping, okay. I don't know what this message is called. I think it's called Get Out of Your Way, but we're going to see what God says. But in Matthew 26, Jesus is going through an interesting shift. He has performed miracle after miracle. He has gone from town to town, and for many it is undeniable that he is the Messiah. And yet there is a shift that must take place when he moves from just demonstrating his

anointing to when he heads towards the cross. And as he begins to head towards the cross, he experiences what I think many of us experience when life begins to take a shift that we're not necessarily sure we have the capacity to endure. What I have been enjoying about my relationship with Jesus are all of the moments where he's like me. I know that there are so many moments where he does things I can never do. And he walks in power and authority that I will never have. And yet what I am loving are the moments where he looks like me because if I can see myself in his humanity, then I can see myself grow in the space of divinity.

And at this moment in the text, I think he is the most. relatable to me than any other moment. And in Matthew 26, we're going to begin in verse 37. He has gone to the Garden of Githrimony. And as he is at the Garden of Gethemone, he takes his large circle of 12 disciples and he narrows it down to just three. Because he's headed towards the cross. And when you're headed into difficult seasons, you can't always take everybody with you. He's got to boil it down. to the essentials and he's boiled it down to the essentials in verse 37 says and he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed you're in this room and you're sorrowful and you're deeply

distressed Jesus says I know exactly what that feels like and he confides to them he says my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death, stay here and watch with me. Then he goes a little further and he fell on his face and he prayed saying, oh my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Then he goes back to the disciples because he wants to know whether or not they did what he asked him. Do he asks him to stay here and watch with me and he goes to the disciples and he found them sleeping because even the ones he thought could stick with him in a hard season couldn't even keep up with him and he says to them what could you

not watch with me one hour this was just one hour of prayer and you fell asleep some of us can't make it in the prayer closet five 10 minutes Jesus is it was just an hour watch and pray I'm going to give you another chance to watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. This spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Then he goes back to God his second time. He says, oh, my father, if this cup cannot pass away from me unless I drink it, your will be done. I love this because we talk about this nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done as if he said it only one time. But he had to go back and say it again. Lord, are you sure, sure?

And then he goes back to the disciples and he came and he found them sleeping in for their eyes were heavy. They just couldn't do it. So he left them. And he went away again. And he prayed the third time saying the same words. Lord, are you really going to make me go through this? Lord, are you sure you can't change this situation? Is this really the world that we're living in right now?

Is this really what I'm up against? Then he came to his disciples and said to them, Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand. And the son of man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise. Let us be going. see my betrayer is at hand spirit of the living god i love you thank you for meeting me in the area

of inadequacy and weakness and allowing your strength to stand tall in me god i am asking for a fresh outpouring of your spirit that we would experience fresh oil for the season that you would meet these your sons and daughters in the areas where they need you the most, God, and that you would illuminate the path that they are to take, the words that they are to speak, and the way that they can withstand the times that they are standing in. God, I ask for the spirit of wisdom, of revelation, of prophecy, of peace, that even as our poor I would receive, and that you would allow me to be precise in delivering this word, God. Not my will, but your will be done.

Have your way, great God, that you are, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You can be seated. Let's go. All right now. I have noticed this shift in social media and the way that social media awards certain types of content. And one of the things that I recognize that is kind of counterintuitive

is when we first maybe starting on social media, everyone will say, this is just a place where you post your highlight reel. And everyone just sees the shining part of your life. And what I begin to notice is that social media has begun to shift. It's not just the place where you show your highlight reel anymore. They are beginning to reward instead process. you'll notice that there are more posts about getting ready with me or go with me as I do this than there are people just showing the finished outcome. I feel like that's very interesting and honestly in many ways I feel like it is delivering many of us from the spirit of envy if I'm honest because as long as someone was just

showing the highlight reel we would think to ourselves I want that I want to have that I want to do that. I want to be that. But the more that they're showing the process, it's helping us to more adequately determine whether or not we really want that thing that we see. I thought to myself, I was looking at a fitness influencer. I was like, that's it, Lord, that's the body that I want to have. I found it, Lord. Thank you. Then she showed me what she do to work out. And she showed me what she eats. And I realized I don't really want it that bad. I don't know if you've ever been in that situation. I want whatever you can do in the 50 minutes I'm going to give you three days a week while I still eat these cookies. Lord, whatever you can do with that. Okay, I watched

Nara and Smith. Her children wanted pop tarts. I thought she was going to go to the grocery store. This girl went and got wheat out the grass. She's about to turn the wheat into bread to make the pop tides. I don't have time for that, okay? The more that I see the process, the more that it changes whether or not I really want that result. And it is no wonder why researchers and sociologists are beginning to recognize this in-between stage between adolescence and adulthood that they have labeled emerging adulthood. Emerging adulthood is about from 18 to 25 years old. And this is a demographic where they are no longer moving into the stages of adults. like previous generations did, graduating high school, going to college, getting the degree,

and then going to buy a home and building a family. They're delaying some of these choices. I don't know if I'm going to go to college because I recognize that while everyone was holding the degree, the process required 20 years of paying off the debt from going to college. Some of them aren't sure that they're getting married. The agent for marriage is being pushed back more and more. you know why? Because we started telling them how hard marriage is and how you lose yourself and now all of a sudden we're delaying making decisions because I don't just want the results. I understand more about the process. It is no wonder that we are seeing a generation begin to not just accept this idea that I should long for the promise. They're asking questions

about the process. If you are in a season right now of promise, then you know better than anyone that you didn't just step into the promise, that it was a process. That's why you don't understand why people are jealous of your promise. The people standing in a promise will let you know that the promise don't even feel like a promise by time you get finished going through the process. Somebody got to tell you, every now and then someone got to tell you, girl, you know this is what you prayed for. I didn't even know that this is what I prayed for because it cost so much for me to step into it that I didn't realize I was in the promise. You wouldn't want the promise if you knew the process. If you understood what I lost along the way, if you understood who I had to become

along the way, if you understood who walked away from me, who I had to walk away from, If you could see the tears that I cried, you want the promise, but baby, you can't get the promise without the process. If you're standing in a promise and you are allowing people to celebrate your promise without informing them of the process, you are robbing them of the truth. They ought to know your process. They ought to know that I didn't just get here because I did everything the right way. There were some moments where I didn't think I was going to make it at all. but God stepped into the process. He's not just the God of my promise. He was the God of my process. He taught me how to walk this thing out. He taught me how to raise these children. He taught me how to build the life after the divorce. He taught me that I didn't have to take my own life.

He wasn't just the God of my promise. Don't look at my promise. Don't be distracted by the promise. Let me tell you about the process. Let me tell you when I almost lost my mind. Let me tell you when I almost lost my mind. Let me tell you when a it didn't make any sense, but God made a way out of no way. He is the God of the process. You're praising him for being the God of the promise, but I praise him for being the God of the process that you came in the midnight hour and wrapped your arms around me when I was crying tears that no one knew I was crying. He was the God of the process when I didn't know whether or not I could raise the child. He gave me language on the spot because he's the God of the promise when I wasn't sure who would stay or who would walk away. He stayed in the midst of it all.

He is the God of the process. Oh no, I feel like we could do better than that. I need about five crazy people who know that you know that you know. I wouldn't be where I am right now. If it wasn't for the God of the process, he was with me in the courtroom. He was with me in the doctor's office. His name ought to be on the degree because Lord knows I didn't have what it took, but he was the God of the process. That's a word for somebody. Don't wait to meet God in the promise. God says, I'll meet you right in the process. I'll build the marriage for you. I'll raise the children with you. I'll teach you what the business school could have never taught you. I am the God of the process and I do not offer you a promise without a process that I'm willing to see you through.

Come on somebody. I'm not going to offer you a promise without also walking you through the process that gets you through the promise. I'll comfort you. I'll feed you. If you don't believe me, you should ask the children of Israel. He says, I got a promise land for you, but I'm not going to wait for you to get to the promise land. I'm going to make sure you make your way to the promise land because he's the God of the process. David, you're going to be king. But before you get king, you're going to be betrayed. And some people going to talk about you. And some people going, you're going to need a cave in the process. You're going to need some friends in the process. God says, I got people who will come to you in the middle of your process. You think that people

are assigned for when you get to the promise. God says, I got people who will be with you. in the midst of the process. I'm trying to minister to somebody who's in the middle of the process and you're wondering, God, I know you got a promise, but what about the process? God says, I'll be with you in the process too.

I'm going to let that marinate because the enemy will make you believe that the process is where you lose. But he doesn't know that God will step right in the middle of the process. That I'm not just a promise keeping God. I'm a process keeping God. God, you can't have this child in the middle of the process.

You can't have their mind in the middle of the process. I'm building something in them. I got glorious sign to their name. I'm going to get with you in the process. Oh, I don't know why that's making me so happy. That's making me real happy. Maybe I'm the only one in the middle of the process. And I don't know who I'm going to be on the other side.

quite frankly I don't know how I'm gonna get to the other side but one thing I do know is that God is with me right now so the other side is guaranteed who you know I went back to school and I'm pursuing my degree and I've got praise the Lord thank you Jesus amen and a friend of mine, you know, she got on to me because she said, why didn't you tell me that you made the Dean's list? And I said, all right. That one of, all right, praise the Lord, to God be the glory. Amen. Stay focused. Amen. Listen. And I said, well, I didn't tell you that I made the Dean's list because I told you what I was making on my homework all along the way. And I told you what I was getting on the test all along the way. So I didn't tell you that I made the Dean's list because

the deans list, I mean, I just figured you would know that I made the dean's list because the process was so tight that the promise was guaranteed. If you do the process right, the promise won't catch you by surprise because I stayed tight in the process. Oh yeah, we're going to get the process right because that's where the enemy tries to intervene is in the process. Because he can't stop the promise. When God spoke the promise, it was done. His word will not return into him void. The only place where the promise can be disrupted is in the process. The promise depends on God. The process depends on you.

So the enemy is going to wage his attack in the process. Oh, I like that. All right. We got promise and we got process. The two must be seen. together. You can shout over the promise. Just make sure when you finish shouting that you ask God now, what's the process? We do a real good job at receiving the promise, but we get a little discouraged in the process. But you have to understand that the two are connected. No process, no

promise. No promise without a process. What you're going through is normal. This is why we need people to not just let us celebrate their promise without telling us the process. Because when you don't tell me the process, I think it's something wrong with me that I'm ready to not make it. I think there's something wrong with me that my marriage is on the rocks. I think there's something wrong with me that I went into these rooms and said something stupid. But when you tell me the problem, process, it lets me know, no, baby, you're going to have some days where the marriage feels a little shaky. You're going to have some days where you don't know what you're talking about. I need you to share your process with me. We need an intergenerational church. We need people who have gone

ahead of us. And we need people who are coming up because someone represents a promise and someone else represents a process. And I need to know how do you stay married for 50 years? I need to know how do you survive political climates? I need to know that the same God that was faithful to you will be faithful to me. I need you to tell me about the goodness of God. I need you to tell me about the healing of God because I need to know about the process. So when we're reading scripture, it is imperative for us to have that same mentality. I'm not just here to get the promise of God. I need to understand that the promise is connected to a process. No weapon formed against me will prosper.

That's Isaiah 54 and 17. That's a promise. And every tongue that rises up against you in judgment, God says, I will condemn. That's a promise. But that promise is not for everybody. So when you use it, make sure you connect the process to the promise.

because when you continue on it says something crazy it says this is the inheritance this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord okay the promise is no weapon forming against you will prosper in every tongue that rises up against you God will condemn but the process to getting that promise is that I got to be a servant of the Lord can I say something that you're not going to like some of them weapons formed against you prospering because you don't serve God. I tried to whisper it so I didn't hurt nobody.

But I don't want you to just take this scripture and think that you can use it up against anything. Because sometimes God will let a weapon prosper so that it brings you to a place of surrender so that you can become a servant of the Lord. Oh, y'all know I want to be a church mother, so this right up my alley. Oh yeah, some weapons formed against you will prosper

until you get down on your knees and say, I've been serving fear, I've been serving pride, I've been serving ego, but I want to be a servant of the Lord. You know how to stop a weapon in its tracks? You start surrendering in the place where you used to stand up. Oh, yeah. I feel my voice going, which don't make no sense,

but we're going to preach this word. I'm going to need you to turn me up in the monitors. You can stop a weapon in its tracks. You can stop a weapon in its tracks. The moment you realize that I've been serving fear and I've been serving doubt and I've been serving addiction and I've been serving my insecurities

and the weapons that have been formed against me are prospering. That's why these relationships keep looking the same different person, same toxic situation because I'm serving an insecurity. I'm not serving God. That's why the business deals, won't work out because I'm serving my pride. I'm not serving God. But if you want to stop a weapon in its tracks, I dare you to stop serving anything that don't look like God and say, you know what?

If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, oh yeah, you can stop a weapon in its tracks, I changed my mind, devil, I changed my mind fear, I change my mind doubt. I don't serve you any longer. Weapons got a stop in its track. No weapon. The moment you align yourself with God, the weapons got to stop in its tracks. The devil thought he had me, but God sent a word for me. I came to stop a weapon in his tracks. Yeah.

One surrender away. One cry away. One turn away from stopping a weapon in its tracks. I don't know who needs to hear this, but I feel the spirit. fear to God on it. It's some weapons in your life and they've been prospering for too long because you've been serving the wrong things. But I hear God saying if you serve every weapon, every tongue that rises up against you, I'll stop it. I'll stop the rumors. I'll stop the complaining. It won't matter what they say about you. I'll stop the weapon in its track. You need to know

that there's a weapon with your name on it. But if you would turn from your wicked ways and seek my... Some of these weapons are prospering. So when I start seeing weapons be informed, before I claim the promise, I make sure that I'm in the right process. Because God, are you using this weapon to reveal to me that I got off track.

You think the children of Israel knew when they weren't serving God? It happened so subtly that they just looked up and they were serving another God. And the weapons are meant to be a sign, a warning. Because one of two things are true. The weapon has formed and it's meant to bring you to your name. knees or you focusing on the weapon is a distraction because you know you in the will of God. So I want to speak for a minute to someone who sees the weapons being formed. And as far as you know, you're doing everything God told you to do. Come on somebody, because you don't always know the will

of God, but you usually know what's not the will of God. So God, I'm doing everything that you asked me to do. And it feels like the weapon is still prospering. And it feels like every tongue that rises up against me is actually winning. God says, just wait a minute. Because if you're serving me, you really don't have to worry about that. Because when I said no weapon formed against you will prosper. And every tongue that rises up against you, I will condemn. I meant that thing. That means you stay focused on where I placed you and I'll take care of the weapons. God says, I'll prepare a table for you in the presence of your enemies. They sit in there making weapons

and you sitting there about to eat because you thought that this was going to stop what God was doing in my life but God told me to stay the course. But I hear God saying stay the course because you've been serving me and I won't let the weapon come your way. The weapon's got to come in your vicinity

so we can have a front row seat when I prepare the table. Okay. All right. Right. Okay. So, all right, so here's the thing. The promise has a process. You want to make sure the only thing you have to do is survive the process. The only thing I have to do is survive the process. The only thing I have to do is survive the process. Now that sounds easier said than done Because the process Be processing

You understand what I'm saying? Child, that process don't take no days off Like a McDonald's open 24-7 Why? If you survive the process Forget about the promise for a minute Just survive the process How do I survive the process? I'm glad you ask.

surviving the process requires us to stay connected to God in the process. Not the promise. This is going to go up against some of the hymns we grew up singing where we was just hanging on to the promises of God. And maybe there's a season for that. But sometimes when you can't hang on to the promise of God, if you could just hang on to God, I got to find a way to invite God into this process. I don't even have time to focus on the problem.

Have you ever been in the middle of the process in such a way where I don't even care about the promise anymore? I just need God. Lord, I just need you to get me through this. I don't even care about the promise anymore. I just need God. God, I don't care if you do it or don't. Don't do it. I need you to meet me right here right now. The promise could be five years away, 10 years away. I don't care about the promise. I need you right here in this heartbreak. I need you right here in this devastation. I need you right here in this dream. I need you in the process. If you're taking notes, I want you to write this down. The process doesn't produce the promise. Okay? The process is not producing the promise.

It is producing the version of you who can step into the promise. The moment that God spoke the promise over your life, the promise was set in stone. So your process is not producing that promise. It is producing the you who can step into it. Okay. I'm going to go a little bit. further, and I'm going to say this, that the process is meant to produce a version of you that looks like the promise keeper. That means that this process is supposed to make you look

more like God. Oh, God, help me. I want you to understand the intent of the process. The intent of the process is not so you can get. It's not so I can get, get, get, get, get. so that I can look, look, look. No, no, no, that's not the point of the process, because that would make it about you. The point of the process is to make you look more like him. The promise is just bait. That's why the people will tell you when they get the promise

that what I really got was not the thing, is who I became in the process. I had to look like God to step into this. Do you know who I had to forgive in order to step into this? Do you know who I had to become? Do you know what I had to heal? Do you know what I had to let go of? Who I became in the process made me look more like Jesus. I don't look like the promise. I look like the promise keeper. It's who I became. You can have what I have. You can go get that. What you can't take is who I became. The promise don't even matter to me because I know that because of who I became, I could get that again.

God made me into something. See, if you just cook yourself, if you train yourself to be addicted to promise after promise after promise, you'll miss out on the fact that you're supposed to be becoming. And if you become, you'll never have to worry about getting. Because the getting will be the organic byproduct of who you became. You can take my idea. You can steal the whole recipe. You'll never be able to cook it the way I did. I don't want that to sound fleshy.

I just know who I became in the process. Take the whole, take all, I'll give you my ideas. I'm not gatekeeping information. I'll tell you anything you want to know. I know who I became in the process cannot be imitated. You can take the idea, but you don't have the oil to produce the results because the oil was produced in the process. My experiences, but no matter what you take from me,

Just know you still, the process is a requirement. This is why you ought not gatekeep stuff. Freely you have received. Freely you ought to give. Because they cannot imitate you. God's going to take them through their own process. And he's going to use a little bit of what you gave and a little bit of what they go through to produce their unique results.

Why would we have competition in the kingdom? We've got a unique grace and anointing. There will never be another Sarah Jakes Roberts, and that's the good thing, because I need what God placed in you. It would be a shame to ask me to be Bishop T.D. Jakes. If I'm Bishop T.D. Jax, who in the world going to be? Sarah Jakes Roberts? I'm as if my God, who created the universe and set the Milky Way in motion and put the sun in the stars in position, needs to imitate what he's already done in Bishop T.D. Jakes. He's got a fresh vision for who you are, a fresh anointing for what you'll do. So don't be intimidated by someone else's results. Submit to your process.

Okay. I'm off track. Here we go. Oh, and I'm almost, oh, time. All right, listen, this will happen. I have wondered in reading Genesis 1, and 28, whether or not God gives them a mandate, a mission, an identity, or if he's actually giving them a promise. In Genesis 1 and 28, he says to creation, this is when he's created them, that's male and female, he

creates them. And he says to them, be fruitful and multiply. He says, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every creeping living thing that moves on the earth. He gives them dominion over the entire earth when he creates them. But then in Genesis 2 and 15, something unique happens. In Genesis 2 and 15, it says, then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. Now wait a minute. In Genesis 1 he gives them dominion over the entire earth. But then in Genesis 2 he doesn't release them into the entire earth. He plants them in a garden.

It's almost as if he's saying in order for you to do Genesis 1 and 28 properly, I got to start you in a tighter space. My vision is for you to be into all of the earth and to have dominion over all the earth, but I'm going to start you in a garden. Because in the garden, I want you to master the character required to step into the promise. The garden is where we master the character required to step into the promise. It is where God cultivates who we must be in order to step into the promise. You don't know this, but some of the people you sit next to there. they're not in the potter's house they're in the garden i'm in a season where i'm being cultivated

to step into the promise god's giving me a promise for where i'm headed but right now i'm not in that promise i'm in the garden and the garden is where you learn to dwell and abide with god see in order for them to have dominion over all of the earth they have to first understand what it means to have dependence on God. You can't have dominion without dependence. And so the garden is where I'm going to teach you how to depend on me. The garden is where I'm going to teach you how to dwell with me. The garden is where I'm going to teach you how to name things and how to move in the garden.

I'm going to teach you in the garden. I'm going to put you in a tight space where you learn my ways. If you can master dependence, you can have dominion. but I can't release you to have dominion because I don't want you to think that you can do it on your own. So first I got to teach you dependents. I know you're in a season where you don't want to need God, but sometimes you need to learn how to need God. So when you don't need God, you need God. Do you understand what I'm saying?

I wish I could say that real good. Sometimes God puts us in a position where we need him so that we can learn how to need him when we don't need them. where needing him becomes our baseline. Where I'm not in a season where I'm asking for my healing, but I still want to be in the presence. I'm not asking for a financial breakthrough. I just want to be in your presence. I want to learn how to dwell with God. God, as long as you dwell with me, I don't care where you take me.

I'm in a season where I'm mastering dependence. I don't want to depend on another person. I want to depend on God. I'm learning how to depend on him. So God's trying to teach them in the garden how to. to prepare for what's next. I'm trying to show you how to rule. I'm trying to show you how to navigate different situations. And this is where the enemy comes in. This is why I know the enemy can't stop the promise. He finds himself in the process. He goes, I'm going to disrupt the promise

by disrupting the process. And so in the garden, he interjects in their training ground. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh, Lord Jesus. I feel the Holy Ghost. I've always wondered to myself, why did the Lord allow the serpent in the garden? This is supposed to be the space where I learned to dwell with you. But why would you allow there to be an enemy in the place where I'm supposed to dwell with you?

And God revealed to me that part of the reason why he had to allow that is because if you learned to dwell with me appropriately, I'll show you how to have dominion over your enemies. I wish I could say this real good. But you're not getting any prizes for overcoming an enemy that's not in your territory. I'd have to allow the enemy in your territory so that you can receive the instructions on how to have authority over the enemy. Oh, I wish I could say this real good. I hear God saying Eve messed up because she focused on the enemy when she should have focused on me.

because if she would have asked me in her dwelling, what do I do about this serpent? I would have told her you don't even have to worry about that serpent. You got dominion over the serpent. But we're too busy facing off with the enemy that we don't realize we got power over the very thing that now has power over us. But I came to reverse the curse in the name of Jesus. Wherever there is an enemy running rampant in your life, that God has given you power and authority to overcome. come. I release divine authority in the name of Jesus. Stop talking to the enemy and turn your face

towards God. God, what do you want me to do about this enemy? There's an enemy in my camp. There's an enemy in my marriage. I'm not going to attack the enemy without going to the one. Oh God, I'm going to say this and I'm going to close. Ish. You got to realize that this is not your enemy. You want strategy on how to defeat the enemy. But this is really not your enemy. This is God's enemy. You understand? This is not your enemy. The only reason why it became your enemy is because you're trying to obey God. And when you obey God, you get their enemies. Oh, God, I wish I could say this real good. Well, you know this because you got friends where you know if I decide to be friends with you, You enemies are my enemies.

They don't make friendships like that no more. But when I was growing up, you can just be friends with me and be an enemy. If I was your friend, we had the same enemies. When you became a friend of God, you took on his enemies. So if you want to defeat God's enemy, you got to talk to God, not his enemy. You don't have enough power, enough strategy, enough authority to go head to head with the enemy until you get a word from God. But if you get a word from God, God will give you everything you need to go up against the enemy that's in your camp.

And it's the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, every tongue, every tongue. The enemy's tongue and the demon's tongue are going to confess that he's God. So I got to talk to God about how to handle this enemy. I want to break the generational curse, but I can't do it by facing a generational curse. I got to talk to God who understands how to curse God they're in the first place because he'll show me how to

uprooted from the various soil that it began with I got to talk to God I don't go head to head with the enemy unless I have a word from God and when I have a word from God no devil in hell can stop what the Lord has placed

in my tongue I have received the power of life and death when God gives me a word I will speak to that mountain move and it will move out of that way. He will be under my feet. Give me a word for this enemy. Give me a word for this insecurity.

Give me a word for this fear. Give me a word for this addiction. I'll give you a word. I call you whole. I call you healed. I say no weapon formed against you. If you spot an enemy in your camp, don't get comfortable sleeping with the enemy.

Start talking to God. Who do I need to become? to rise above what the enemy is trying to plant in my garden. Oh, I know some of y'all ready to go. But baby, I'm going to preach this word until I say everything God told me to say. I hear God saying that the enemy is trying to plant in your garden. But buy plants in your garden. We'll be able to take roots and produce fruit.

I bind it in the name of Jesus. No demon known to man Jesus. In the name of Jesus. The enemy is going to be present. Don't wish him away. Rebuk him away. The enemy is going to be present. But God's not worried about the enemy.

Because God understands he has power over the enemy. We're worried about the enemy. Because we don't know if we have power over the enemy. but my power doesn't come from my own mechanisms. My power comes from God. So if it looks like the enemy is winning, my relationship with God is failing. Surviving the process means that when it looks like the enemy is winning, I got to draw closer to God because ain't no way he defeated death.

ain't no way he defeated sin for the enemy to have the ultimate victory so you want to know my strategy for the enemy my worship I know you're thinking what is it about singing a song that's going to help me no I'm not talking about singing a song

that's one expression of worship but if that's all the worship you get that's probably why I'm glad you hear I'm glad you watching because worship is not just when I sing a song. It's when I open my heart to God. Sometimes with no music and no worship leader and nothing but the song that's in my heart. And I say, God, I worship you. You know better than I do.

You know the end from the beginning. God, you knew I'd be in this moment. God, you still allowed it. So I turned my feet. focus to you is when I shift my focus to God and I magnify the Lord because the enemy looks big. You better stop watching them headlines. The headlines getting bigger and bigger and bigger. So you got to magnify the Lord with me because God sometimes I can't see you.

I know we in a room with all the church people who do all the things the right way and never have moments where they don't see God but some of us have moments where we have to magnify God because it just don't seem big enough for what I'm facing. Worship is when I make it my intention to magnify the Lord. And when I magnify the Lord, I can tell what's a thread and what's not. When I magnify the Lord, the Lord gives me language. He tells me when to be silent and he tells me when to speak. When I magnify the Lord, I have peace that has nothing to do with what's happening in this word.

I got to magnify. So the only way that they have dominion in the earth is if they master the garden. And mastering the garden is where they learn to be made in the image of God. More than ever, our process is to look more like the promised keeper. Oh, our process is to ensue. insist by any means necessary that I draw close to God even in the face of adversity. Is anybody watching what's happening in the world? I was praying about this message and God gave me the word he said grief because life is changing

right in front of our eyes. And life as we knew it, it's not coming to an end. We have arrived. We are in a new frontier. And some of us don't know where we fit. We don't know how to show up in this new frontier. But we're not going to find it in the world. The world's not going to tell you how to show up in the world. You got to ask the creator of the world. How do I show up in this world?

And I was struck by the garden in the Old Testament and how it parallels to the garden in the New Testament. in this place where God is cultivating the identity of Adam and Eve in the Old Testament. We see Jesus walk into this garden where he's transitioning and life as he knows it

is coming to an end. And he feels sorrow because this won't be the same world and everything you've known about me, Jesus knows is changing and so he walks into the garden and he takes his disciples with them. I love that he took his disciples with him because he's got some things he needs to teach the disciples about the moments in life that require gardens. There are some moments in life that require you to submit yourself to a garden.

Before you step into the promise, you got to go through the garden. And you may miss this if you think of a garden as a place where things just bloom and come to life. Because the garden is not just the place where things come to life. A garden is a place where things die. In order for the plant to even take root, the seed coat must die. John 14, put John 14 on the screen. for me. It says that in order, unless the seed hits the ground, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain. The garden is not

just the place where things come to life. The garden is the place where some things die. And Jesus goes into the garden because he's trying to let the disciples know in order for me to move into this next step of the process, there's something in me that's got to go first. Gatsimini is a garden where there were olives. It's where they produce oil. And in order for oil to be produced, there must be a crushing of the olives. And Jesus is in this garden. And he's praying, you know what I love about this? All of the people who make you believe. that you can only come to God when everything is going well and you feel good about yourself. Jesus debunks this because God can handle your sorrow. You understand that I don't need you to

pretend that you are in agreement with me. I just need you to bring your disagreement to me. To bring your conflict to me. I know you won't always agree with the things, the way things need to be. You won't always agree with my will. My will and you will. your will may find themselves in conflict sometimes. God says, don't just fall away from me because my will and your will didn't align. Draw closer to me. And let's wrestle for a minute. He wrestles with the Father because I don't want to have to go through this.

He wrestles with God because he realizes that there's something in me that standing. that's standing in the way of what you want to do. Oh, Lord. And Jesus refuses to allow for there to be something in him that's in the way of what God wants to do. You see, most of us are willing to just accept the fact that there's something in us that doesn't align with what God wants. But he insists on getting into alignment.

because he recognizes that if I have to choose between my will and your will at the end of the day, I did my will for a little bit. My will won't do what your will will will will will do. Your will has multiplication connected to it. Your will has salvation connected to it. Your will is the only will that won't just give me the glory. It'll give everything connected to me the glory. You understand what I'm saying?

You would settle for just you getting the glory. but God says your life is not just about you. And he takes the disciples with him and he says something to the disciples that I thought was very interesting. He tells the disciples, watch and pray, lest you fall into temptation. What is their temptation? Jesus recognizes that they're going to have a moment themselves where their will and God's will may not necessarily align. but I'm going to model for you what it looks like to say yes to God in the midst of sorrow to say yes to God even if it means facing something you never wanted to face

to say yes to God and allow that yes to God to produce oil you're going to need oil in this season the kind of oil that won't work your oil your old oil won't work for this next season Oh God, help me to say it real good. Oil that Jesus was using when he was healing the sick and he was healing the blind and he was allowing the laymen to walk. That oil was for that season, but for this next step into his destiny, he needed a fresh kind of oil. And in order to get the fresh oil, the only thing he had to do was get himself out of the way. What is himself? Himself is this idea of I needed to be this particular way.

You're in this room and maybe you're facing something that isn't going away. And you prayed about it and you asked God to take it away and you asked one time and he didn't do it. And you asked two times and he didn't do it. and you asked third time and it has become increasingly clear this ain't going nowhere I'm really going to have to walk through this this is really what our world is going to look like this is really I'm really going to go through this divorce I'm really going to have to build this I'm really going to go through this health scare this is but see we talk about all the times where God delivers us but there are some moments and Jesus shows us where he doesn't deliver us

deliver us in the way that we anticipate. When God doesn't change the situation, he has to change you in the situation. And it is okay to grieve the fact that the situation isn't changing while also submitting to the fact that I'm going to change and rise to the occasion of the situation. Jesus is rising to the occasion and he's teaching the disciples how to do the same. I believe that what the disciples had to watch and pray for then is applicable to us now. That there are people in this room and God has called you to enter into a season that feels a bit sorrowful. And one, I want to give you permission to feel that sorrow, to feel that frustration.

And I know in church we like to shout and dance over to the blue. blessings that are coming all that stuff and y'all can do that next week right now in this moment even if it's not your season i'm wondering can we hold space for someone who's going through a season of sorrow that they'd rather not face because even jesus in this moment didn't want to face it alone and can you imagine if jesus didn't want to face it alone there are some of us in the this room and it feels like we're facing it on our own. I dare you to just touch somebody close to you. Oh, because they're in the garden. Maybe you're okay, but they're in the garden. God didn't change the situation. So he's changing them in the situation. And there's a grief connected to that,

a sorrow connected to it. And they're tempted to pull away to be like the disciples and close their eyes and fall asleep until it's over. But if they fall asleep, they're going to miss the oil. If they fall asleep, they're going to miss the glory. Right now in this moment, God has orchestrated for them to not be alone in the garden. Jesus, he prays because the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. in this moment in the garden he insists on getting out of the way the only thing that our

brothers and sisters in this room and those of you watching online are going to have to do is find a way to get out of the way get out of the way get out of the way get out of the way don't let your pride don't let your grief

keep you from moving forward you're going to have to get out of the way. The way you wanted things to be, you're going to have to lay this down in the garden. Can we bury it here? In the garden. I know you want it different. I know it hurts.

But Jesus knew something about the Father that you're going to learn. That he doesn't just cause us to go through sorrow for sorrow's sake. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross. He gives us capacity to endure the sorrow because he knows on the other side of the sorrow there will be glory. This season is just going to be temporary. This is temporary sorrow. I'm not saying it don't hurt.

I'm not saying it's not confusing. But I'm saying it's temporary sorrow. God give them grace to endure the sorrow. God give them capacity to endure the heartbreak. God give them capacity to still bring change in that industry. God give them the capacity to endure the betrayal. God give them the capacity to endure. And when they receive this capacity to endure God,

they will be a model, a testimony of what God can do in God. gardens. Spirit of the living God fall fresh in this place. God, we've been running on fumes for far too long. Lord, we need fresh oil for this season of our lives. We need the kind of oil that only is produced by crushing. God, we feel the crushing, but we didn't know there was oil connected to this. God, I speak oil over my brother. I speak. I speak. I speak. oil over my sister. God, that you would help them to remember that the crushing is but temporary, but the crushing is the only way that it produces oil. God, the kind of oil that breaks generational curses, the kind of oil that gives them power and authority to speak to devil's God.

They've been praying for oil. They just didn't know that the oil came in the process. God, we speak right now in the name of Jesus, that they will receive strength in the middle of this process, that they will receive power in the process. I thank you, God, that you were cultivating on the inside of them, identity and character and perseverance. God, I thank you. That you don't leave them in the garden, that you develop them in the garden, that you teach them in the garden. God, I thank you for being the master gardener, that you know exactly how much sun I can take, that you know exactly when I need watering, that you know exactly how fruitful I will be. Somebody's in this room and they're in their pruning season and they can feel God is cutting them away,

but he's cutting them away so that they can produce more fruit. And the only thing standing in between them and more fruit is the way they view this moment in their lives. And so God, I'm praying for fresh eyesight. for fresh perspective that right now in this moment that they would surrender their will that they would grieve their will that they would grieve their preferences and that they would rise just as Jesus did recognizing that their time is at hand God I ask that they would no longer be compliant with division a high house divided against itself cannot stand. I cannot say I want the will of God while also being

resentful that God didn't give me my will. God helped me to make peace with the fact that it didn't go my way. And let someone else's life be a reminder to me that even when it doesn't go my way, it doesn't mean that you don't get your way. And when you get your way, your way is better than my way. God, I'm praying right now that you would give them the spirit of prophecy, that they would see into the future. And on the other side of this moment that they would see resurrecting power. So God, right now I pray for every person who's under the sound of my voice, whether they're watching it now or catching it later. God, I speak resurrecting power right now in the name of Jesus. That the same place you feel sorrow is the place where God will bring a solution.

Did you hear that? the same place you feel sorrow is the same place where God's going to birth a solution and this solution will not just be for you this solution will be the salvation of many i thank you god that this is not a person but this is a seed and i thank you god that because they are a seed that even when they fall to the ground they are not buried without hope they are buried so that they can produce fruit i thank you god that resurrecting power is their inheritance. So God allow them to receive your vision, your will, your way, and to submit to this moment of gardening, knowing that it's meant to draw them closer to you.

And we rebuke the enemy who's trying to intervene in the process and trying to pull them away in the middle of the process. God, I pray right now that they would feel your presence so heavily, that they would feel your presence, God, even when they leave this room that your presence would surround them. And I thank you, God, that there's going to be a hunger on the inside of them like never before. God, I'm praying right now that they would hunger and thirst for righteousness in a way they have never hungered before. Because the only way they will survive this time is if your righteousness is on the inside of them. And so I thank you, God, that they're going to seek you and your righteousness and as your word promises that all other things will be added

unto them thank you god for this word do with it what only you can do allow it to take root and produce fruit in jesus name i pray amen family amen i know there's Many of you here at this altar, but I have to say, if you're here and you don't know Jesus, can you come down for a second? We just want to pray for you. If you're here and you don't know Jesus, you sat through this message and you thought to yourself, man, there are some assurances that were spoken in this room that I want access to. There are some promises in this room that I want access to.

But I don't know that I have them because I want access to. I haven't made that decision. I haven't made that commitment. I want you to meet me here at this altar. We're going to pray. We're going to get out of here. If you're here, just come as fast as you can. Wave at me, so I know you're coming.

If you're here and you don't know Jesus, but you want to dedicate your life to the Lord, come down to the altar. Hey, welcome, welcome, welcome. Come on, family, we can do better than that. Our family's getting bigger. Come on, our family's getting bigger. Heaven is rejoicing.

Our ministers are here. They want to pray with you. and you don't know Jesus, you want to get to know him. He already knows you, but you want to make that commitment. I want to confess that you are my Savior. I believe that you died for my sins. And because of you, I have new life, please make your way. We'll wait for you.

Other people may have to go, but we here at the potter's house, there's a few of us who will wait for you. Come, come, come. If you're here and you're looking for a new church home, and you say, you know what, I like this church. They got a special kind of crazy that I enjoy. We would love to be your pastor. If this is your church, make some noise.

Listen, there are so many incredible places here in the Metroplex, so many places online where you can be logged in, but we're partial to what God is doing here at the Pardis House, and we would love to make you a part of our family. Our pastors are here at the left. If you want to meet them and love on them and hug on them, maybe you've got to go. You can hit the QR code on the screen,

and the QR code will give you instructions on how to get plugged in. If you're watching, go online, you can be a member too. We love our e-members. Can you help me thank God for our e-members? We love you. I see your messages. I see you guys commenting on my post.

If you're watching for the first time, and you're like, you know what? I don't live there. I wish I could, but I don't. Let me tell you, you can join online. Our e-members just the same as being in-house. We love you just the same. We pray for you just the same.

And we believe that the same grace and an anointing that's on this house will reach you no matter where you are. Can you help me again? Just thank God for all of those who are watching online. Our ministers are here. They're praying the prayer of salvation for those who are giving their lives to the Lord. Can we just thank God for that? We got some new.

Brothers and sisters, can you stand with me? We're going to close. Thank you, Jesus. Is anybody glad they made their way into the house this morning? I'm glad I made it too. I'm always grateful that we get to encounter and experience. Jesus together. Listen, this week, we don't know what's going to happen, but we know who holds this week. I said we know who holds this week. Never forget that even if you feel alone, that

you're not alone, that God's present goes ahead of you, it's with you, it's behind you, surrounding you every step of the way. And we plead the blood of Jesus over you, the blood of Jesus that repels sickness and disease, the blood of Jesus that comforts us in the time of our greatest need, the blood of Jesus that walks with us and talks with us. We ask that angels would be dispatched over your household, angels dispatched over your finances, over your mind, over everything that you will touch your hands to. We ask that heaven's resources would back you up. We ask that if there's anything that's happening in your world that isn't of God, that God would highlight it immediately and give you strategy on how to evict it. We thank you, God, for opportunities to draw

closer to you, that this was just the beginning, but church really begins when the benediction closes. And I thank you, God, that everywhere the souls of their feet tread, God, that you'll give it to them. May they walk in power and authority, recognizing that they are ambassadors of the kingdom of heaven wherever they go. May their light shine so bright that it makes others curious about who their God is. And I thank you, God, that you're going to protect them, that you're going to lead them, that you're going to guide them, and that it will be undeniable that you are with them every step of the way. Evolve.