NEWNESS: THE POSTURE OF A BEGINNER

RECAP OF THE LAST TEACHING ON NEWNESS:

Ruth: 
NEWNESS:
- Newness is God's language of mercy

- Newness begins with God.

-Ignorance is not an excuse! I must contend for knowledge if I must enter the New and live in it.

- To enter new seasons, I must be discerning

Bukky:

I remember the graph/diagram showing the progression/transition between the old and the new. It's never a smooth transition and some people can get stuck in the in-between phase, never really entering the new. We must know how to position ourselves to enter the New so we do not get stuck.

Omololu:

Newness 

Newness is not starting something new

It’s starting something with God 

There is no election without opposition 

The graphics illustration also 

Stating the levels one gets to before entering newness

Seyi Ayodele:

Newness is accompanied by Death, but don't mourn too long.

The New is only new to us and not to God.

The New is God administering a fix to something that's outdated or not working in the old, not necessarily a total replacement of the old.

The intersection between the Old and the new (I forget the name P.Rems gave it now) is where we are now and we must maximize it in the place of intimacy.

Pastor Oluremi:

NEWNESS

There is no election without opposition 

There is always contention at the entrance of the New

I must not only jump up at the word of the Lord that I have a new season before me, I must Infact expect Satan to show up

If he doesn’t, I probably did not hear well.

It is possible to successfully leave the old and not enter The New (case in point: Israel)

Something dies at the entrance/birth of a New

Don’t stay too long mourning the things/people/relationships that aided you in the Old, Olúrèmí 

They’ve served their purpose 

That discomfort? Allow it

That attachment to the old? Let it go 

There is a gap period between The New and The Old

People most assume that you just jump into The New after the old 

But there is a gap

What you do in that gap period and make of it is what determines if you enter

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Now, to my teaching for today, which is a continuation of the last message on NEWNESS.

The Posture of a Beginner

We’ve talked about Newness and what the Lord does with the New, starting with the first man 

But there is a posture a beginner must have

Your outlook on the old cannot be same as now

The playing field is different, same as surrounding context 

So to excel here, you must take on a new posture 

The posture of a beginner is the spiritual stance you take when you recognize that a new season has arrived, but you are still learning how to move within or towards i

Tonight, I will be running us through this

When God calls someone into a new season, know this that He is not just opening a door. What God is doing is that He is inviting them into a spiritual alignment, into something He is doing.

The new is not about doing something different on your own terms; it is about being positioned rightly before God so that His plans can unfold in your life or for a generation.

I mentioned at the anniversary that there is always purpose to a new thing God is doing 

God never does things aimlessly

Every new season carries a plan, a promise, a purpose.

And here is what you must hold dear: there are no presumptions when God is moving.

When a new season beckons, many of us make the mistake of assuming that enthusiasm is enough. We think that excitement, desire, or our eagerness will bring us in. But it does not work that way.

Your happiness or excitement will not unlock what God has prepared.

That you desire it will not birth what the Lord has ordained.

Newness does not respond to zeal alone

Alignment, readiness, and the posture of your heart before God are very key to if you enter.

Side note is that some people are not ready for the New. Sadly!

Most times they even think they are

They pray for it 

They talk about it 

They shout amen to the prophecies 

But by their postures, we know they are not ready

Side note is that some people are not ready for the New. Sadly!

Most times they even think they are

They pray for it 

They talk about it 

They shout amen to the prophecies 

But by their postures, we know they are not ready

Again, leaving the old does not mean the new is automatic. There is tension, there is opposition, and there is a period of waiting and it is sometimes longer than we anticipate.

And during that time, the enemy will often try to convince you to give up, to return to what was familiar, to settle for less than God intended.

But here is the truth: God’s new things are never delayed because He forgot you. They are delayed because the heart, the mind, and the spirit must be positioned rightly to receive them.

Tonight, we will be walking through these postures as already shown in scripture.

1. The Posture of Obedient Departure

I mentioned something to us at the last teaching that so many times we assume that we can enter The New from the Old 

Like slowly takes steps into the New while still maintaining our current position. I explained to us that this is largely untrue going by scripture

It is an anomaly according to scripture 

Everytime in scripture that I have seen God call people into The New, what He does is that He first calls them out of The Old!

God is asking me to leave my old job and go work in a new place

But let me stay here first and start and see how it goes 

It doesn’t work this way! 

A call to The New is first a call to leave the old! 

When God calls you into a new season, the first thing He asks of you is to leave the familiar behind and step into what He is calling you to, even if you cannot see the full path ahead.

Infact, most times, you will not see the full picture.

What you will have mostly is time to depart

Hebrews 11:8 ERV

[8] God called Abraham to travel to another place that he promised to give him. Abraham did not know where that other place was. But he obeyed God and started traveling because he had faith. 

Genesis 12:1-4 KJV

[1] Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: [2] and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: [3] and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. [4] So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. 

Abraham did not know where that other place was, but he obeyed and started traveling to a new! 

Your trying to understand and get all the details for the new before moving away from the old might be why some of us are stuck 

Abraham had no roadmap, no clear destination, and no guarantee of comfort or provision but he obeyed.

As humans, we always want a sense of safety and security but when it comes to the things of God? We must see Him as our safe rock instead. And this should be enough for us

Stop waiting for everything to make sense before you move 👏👏👏👏

Look at Abraham! That obedient departure positioned him to receive God’s covenant, His promises, and blessings that would impact generations.

Familiarity is an enemy of The New!

Step out of what is familiar! 

I feel like I am shouting this to somebody’s spirit man 

Step out! 

It is time!

Step out

Stop waiting for things to make sense before you do

Obedience often requires moving toward uncertainty, not away from it.

Tonight, I want you to think about your own life for a moment. What has God been asking you to leave behind ? 

Is it a place, a relationship, a comfort, or a mindset that has outlived its purpose?

Are you waiting for everything to feel safe, fully explained, or convenient before you move? That waiting could keep you stuck in the gap.

You cannot hold onto the old while stepping fully into the new. The moment you step, even with uncertainty, you position yourself to receive what God has already prepared.

You cannot like the old more than the new

And I just hear the Lord say to tell us:

It is time to move again. Move!

You’ve waited enough 

Move!

2. The Posture of Faithful Endurance 

After you step into obedience, leaving the old behind, the journey is not over. Most times, The New doesn’t come immediately. I already explained this gap year to us and I need us to pay close attention because this is where most people fail 

This is where most people make mistakes 

What happens in this space is dangerous.

You cannot fully enter the new…

And you cannot comfortably return to the old you already left.

You are in between.

And that in-between place exposes what is really inside you. It is here the waiting happens

It is here the opposition comes 

It is also here most people fail

“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭10‬:‭36‬ ‭NIV

This is how the promise is received. This is how we enter The New:

You need to persevere!

I want us to look carefully at Israel.

They obeyed. They left Egypt. They applied the blood. They walked out boldly. They saw the Red Sea part. They sang songs of victory.

But between Egypt and Canaan was the wilderness.

And it was the wilderness that exposed them.

You must learn perseverance in the wilderness.

It is the only way you move out of it 

It is the only way you are not stuck

Let me tell you where Israel got it wrong:

“Then they plotted among themselves, “Let’s choose a new leader and go back to Egypt!””

‭‭Numbers‬ ‭14‬:‭4‬ ‭NLT

You must never romanticize the old!

See, this was their biggest mistake 

They couldn’t persevere 

So they said let’s go back to Egypt (the old) 

 I need you to take note of the tragedy here

They could not actually go back to Egypt

Egypt was no longer an option.

But they also could not enter the promised land because of unbelief and lack of endurance 

They lacked a posture that carried men to the new

So they got stuck.

Not because God was unfaithful

Not because the promise was false

But because they failed the posture of faithful endurance

See, you must not fail this posture

Yoruba people have this proverb:

Iwaju ose lo (you cannot move forward)

Eyin o se wo (you also cannot look backward)

The day you starting looking to the old because the gap period is difficult what you are doing is giving away your right to the new 

You are declaring yourself unfit to enter into it

That place you left or God has asked you to leave is never an option to go back to

Again; 

The gap is not punishment.

The gap is preparation.

But if you misinterpret the gap, you will make yourself miss out on the new

The question must move from

“Why is this taking long?” To 

“Who am I becoming while I wait?”

Again, waiting is difficult ooo

Ah! Waiting to enter the new is difficult 

But may we not fail the test of endurance

And I pray for everyone here:

The tragedy of Israel will not become your story 

You take on the posture of endurance 

This building and creation season, you stay aligned with God

You will not spend it grumbling, frustrated and doubting 

The word of God stays before you in such a season as this until it comes to life 

Your Faith rises up to the occasion 

You believe what you have seen and heard even while you wait

You enter your new 

In Jesus name

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QUESTIONS

1. Ibukun:

My question is around here, when God asks of one to leave the familiar behind.

Is it always leaving something weighty ?

Is it always leaving something pleasant?

Is it always leaving something enjoyable?

The understanding about God telling one is to leave that has always been labeled is  (leaving a good place then it gets bad, then it gets better in the end.)

For Eg, God tells someone to leave a 6-figure usd paying job to go to a remote village and start a trade.

I need clarification around that because if one is not discerning enough, someone can ' deliver' a wrong message or think he heard that he should leave riches behind because God wants to take him into the new 

ANSWER:

Hmmmmm

Basically, that most people associate God’s instruction to depart to be from good to bad. Right??

If yes, I think I will use Abraham as my talk point.

First, I want us to know that leaving is not from good to bad

Infact, I think that it is us humans that try to impose our understanding of good and bad into the instructions of God. 

We measure good by comfort, earthly wealth, stability and what is visible. 

This is normal for us humans  btw.

But that’s not how God measures instructions and movement. 

I said something at the anniversary meeting, that every invitation to The New starts with a purpose of God. 

We see this in the story of Creation—the very beginning! 

So when God says “leave,” it is not a pointer on whether where you are is pleasant or unpleasant. It is not even a pointer to whether it is successful.

It is a pointer that God is doing a new thing and you’ve been called into alignment.

So when you start sensing a new season beckons, it is not because God wants to increase your level 

It is usually because God is doing something New

Something that your current position/state cannot carry

Back to Abraham, 

Abraham was okay in Haran. They had possession 

He was doing well with his family 

Then God asks him to leave for a blessing 

Note that God did not ask Abraham to leave because something was wrong with Haran

But because of the promise 

The promise was bigger than where he was

Abraham got to Canaan (the promised land) but he did not even dwell there immediately. If you read Gen 12, you’d see that there was in fact a famine in the land at the point Abraham got there first. 

How is there famine in the land that is supposed to be flowing with milk and honey?

The gap period

I gave us 2 other names that I interchanged for the gap period: The building season or the Creation Period. 

Let me use this example:

If you have a house and you have to bring it down to build again

What happens is that after you have demolished, you will have to endure the cold and rain pending when you are done building back up or at least started. 

The gap period exposes you

To rain.

To wind.

To discomfort.

This doesn’t mean building the house again was a mistake but because rebuilding has phases.

That exposed season is the gap.

Another thing to note is that the devil always comes after the word

The building season Infact is such a perfect time for him to show up because that is your first reality of following the word

And as we know, Satan also follows the word

Temptations and trials then begin to happen alongside the pain of building again (in uncertainty) 

Most people have then come to interpret this as God bringing them into evil

Times and seasons my people

If I put your bungalow down and it is in rubbles, you are most likely going to interpret that the bungalow is a better phase than the rubbles we’ve made of it

Forgetting that we cannot build another solid sky scraper on same land, if we did not first demolish

QUESTION 2

How does one discern to have left the old?

How do you know if you are on the way to the new.

ANSWERS:
Bukky:

I think one would be a sense of restlessness and discomfort with where you are at the moment.

I vaguely remember this from the teaching on the Wheel of Time.

You can't quite place your finger on it but it will just feel like your time in a particular place is done, like there's a sense of switch in seasons. Feels like where you are just doesn't serve anymore.

Then there's a sense of hope for something new or different, even when it may not be clear or you don't know what it is.

It could also be that you are trying to do the things you've done before in the way you've done it before and it's just not working.

Moji:

to add to this, i think you’ll know you’ve left the old when you experience a certain kind of peace that comes from aligning yourself with God’s plan, after experiencing the restlessness Bukky described. the peace is not necessarily because you know the full blueprint but because there’s a turning in the water and you’ve jumped into it in alignment with God

Ruth:

There are subtle changes... You might not fully realize or recognized. Things you certainly won't do before, you start doing them...

There's a mindset shift in a particular direction... 

And the temptations and struggles you will encounter, will also be in that particular direction...

Pastor Oluremi:

I think I have a very short and straightforward answer to the question 

How do you know you’ve left the old?

Obedience to the instruction you got. 

One thing I’ve found in scripture is this, everytime God brought people into a New, there was a preceding word

And instructions tied to them

For Abraham, it was leave your father’s land Haran to a land I will show you.

How he left the old was that he traveled out of Haran 

For some of us, the instruction may not be dramatic or loud 

It could be as simple as change the posture of your heart, forgive, deal with anger, go to church, pray everyday

These things could come just as nudges also 

But you will always get them when God is leading you elsewhere

Sometimes, it is even discomfort and uneasiness until you stop or start doing something

If you are wondering where you are at, go back to the instructions and nudges you got concerning this new season

Did you obey ?

Have you done what you heard/sensed?

And for someone I hear the Lord say this:

Have you done FULLY what I asked you to?

Exactly as I asked you to?

So if you sense a New thing or season beckoning to you, ask the Lord what must I do? 

What is required of me?

For some of us, the answer may be as simple as Sleep

Like just stop worrying 

This is the key to leaving the old for some 

As simple as this

So if you are wondering if you’ve left the old, a pointer might be to check if you’ve followed the instructions you got concerning the new

I hope this helps and answer the question (alongside the other thoughts shared too)