Part 10 Adapting to a new generation

Part 10 Adapting to a new generation

Matthew 9:16	No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse.
17	Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.

Adapting to change can be very difficult for some people. Most become set in their ways in that which is familiar to them, their comfort zone. However the only constant in the world today is that of change. The account of the children of Israel making into the Promised Land highlights the problem of adapting to change. Out of several million people only 2 were able to enter into their new day in God. The wilderness had become so comfortable to them, change especially if there was danger in it was out of the question. Joshua and Caleb made it across because they had a different spirit to the rest.

Numbers 14:24

But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.

Both Joshua and Caleb had a different spirit to the others

This different spirit enabled them to embrace change with faith. This so called “different spirit” did not happen overnight, this had been worked into Joshua and Caleb over a period of time.

Everything is subject to change, the cells of your body change daily, seasons come and go, people come into our lives and go out of our lives.  Change is ordained of God for our good; it is part of the renewing process

Where there is no change

• Stagnation sets in
• Growth is hindered
• Freshness wanes
• Our spirit does not grow

We are in a state now of constant acceleration, everything is experiencing acceleration; this too is of God. Changes are happening in the world at a rate that we have never seen before. It is Gods intention that you be in a process of change.

Proverbs 4:18	But the path of the just [is] as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
Job 8:7	Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.
Psalms 84:7	They go from strength to strength, [every one of them] in Zionappeareth before God.
Psalms 92:14	They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;

The testing in the wilderness served to prepare the people for change

The changes that they were facing were major; there would be no more water from the rock, no more cloud by day and fire by night. The land was totally different to what they were used to.

The principle here is clear

We must personally undergo change in order to enter the next major purposes of God in the earth.

Jeremiah 48:11

Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.

This verse describes the preparation that God allows us to go through so that when change comes we can embrace it. It describes or likens a wine making process and likens us to the changes we need to go through

1)     Being at ease; we cannot afford to be a ease in our lives, we must press    

towards the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:13	Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14	I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

2)  Settled on our lees; this is a winemaking term and refers to the dregs

     or lees .

This describes the state where end up in when we continue to be at ease we drop into a state of mediocrity and unhealthy contentment. There is no challenge, no vision.

Proverbs 29:18a

Where there is no vision, the people perish:

3)  Not emptied from vessel to vessel:  This describes an ancient process

     of wine making where the top levels of the wine were poured out into

     another container leaving the dregs behind at the bottom. This process

     continues on a number of times until the all impurities and dregs are 

     gone.

4)     Neither have gone into captivity: In this process the wine was placed

Into a vat or container and left on the shelf to mature.

This speaks of the process of waiting, learning to wait. We must learn the difference between the call and the commission, learning not to run ahead of the Lord.  We see most of this process involved constant change being poured from vessel to vessel. If we don’t go through the process of change the result will be stagnation.

         5)  His taste remains within him: the word taste  here is: 2940.

ta'am, tah'-am; from H2938; prop. a taste, i.e. (fig.) perception;

In other words there has been no growth

Finally

         6) His scent is not changed: What emanates from him is not the

              The nature of Jesus; he smells wrong

We need to be poured from one situation to another God uses change in our lives to prepare us to mature us, to groom our spirit. Those little changes being poured form one situation into another and learning to adapt to change is vital for our maturity, each time some more of the dregs are left behind. This process happens when we press into God when we are not at ease spiritually.

Psalms 55:19

God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abideth of old.. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God.

We are about to be tested in our ability to change and adapt like never before.

The following page of scripture is vital for us to understand if we are to adapt to what is coming

Matthew 19:30	But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.
Matthew 20:1	For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.
2	And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
3	And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
4	And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.
5	Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.
6	And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
7	They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
8	So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.
9	And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.
10	But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.
11	And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,
12	Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.
13	But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?
14	Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.

This is a parable concerning attitudes in connection with the coming final harvest that God is purposed to bring in.

Many of us have labored for many years in the vineyard so to speak. It took us years of seeking God, fasting praying to get to where we are and what we have today. Many have paid a high price to get to where they are in God and the Lord rewarded them. However a new generation of young people are going to be swept into the Kingdom in their millions, these will not pay the same price as many of us have to get to where we are in God. Those in this coming harvest will not pay the same price they will be transported or accelerated into a maturity in a frightening short period of time. They will move in the spirit with ease raise the dead prophesy and come to maturity so quickly it will be easy for those who have paid a real price to get where they are in God, to accept this new generation. This will bring a change so great that church as we know it today will no longer exist. Can we handle that, are we open to radical change or will we put the requirements that were on us to move on in God, upon them. 

The great pioneers of old built roads across seemingly impassable mountains at great cost, so that the following generation could cross those mountains with ease.

God is looking for those Joshua’s and Caleb’s who will embrace change and putting aside pre-conceived ideas, seeing with prophetic insight and prophetic foresight so that we will be ready for the day of His power. We need a new wine skin a new paradigm if we are to be a part of what is coming

Like Jeremiah we need to say:

Jeremiah 26:14

As for me, behold, I [am] in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you.

God Bless youN Johnson © October 4th.  2007