Church of the New Wine

Luke 5:37-38, "And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. but new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

What does it mean to be a church of the "new wine"? The church of the new wine is the church that is experiencing fresh moves of God. Wine – in Scripture – is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. New Wine then is a fresh outpouring of the Spirit of God. And the only way that we are going to be a church of the New Wine is by allowing God to move in and upon us as He chooses.

You must understand that we cannot choose how God moves in our churches, however, we can choose whether or not we all him to move. When God chooses to visit a body of believers by the work of His Holy Spirit we can either embrace what He is doing or we can reject what He is doing. It’s really about the attitude we bring into our relationship with God. We are either going to allow Him to be Lord or we are going to continue to run the show around here. We can either be a church of the status quo or we can be a church born of the Spirit of God. We can be pew warmers or we can be genuine followers of Jesus Christ. It’s all about how we relate to what God is doing.

Oswald Chambers, “If we have never had the experience of taking our causal, religious shoes off our casual, religious feet – getting rid of all the excess informality with which we experience God – it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His presence…The attitude of receiving and welcoming the Holy Spirit into our lives is to be the continual attitude of a believer. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive reviving life form our ascended Lord. It is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit that changes people, but the power of the ascended Christ coming into their lives through the Holy Spirit. We all too often separate things that the New Testament never separates. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not an experience apart from Jesus Christ – it is the evidence of the ascended Christ.”

Just as the religious leaders rejected the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem, we all too often reject the triumphal entry of the Holy Spirit into our lives, into our church, or into our services. We should welcome His work among us. This is the move of God into our lives.

Ron Phillips, “…rarely does the religious establishment embrace a new move of God…Whether historical or modern, God’s divine visitation almost always faces opposition and controversy. The fresh move of God may even be opposed by the old move of God.”

1st Tragedy – Rejection.
Change is often rejected because it often comes in the form of new people.
2nd Tragedy – Divided Church.
Old wineskins blame the new wine for bursting their church, never seeing the truth that it was their own inability to change that destroyed the church.
3rd Tragedy – Holy Spirit is Quenched.
Great Awakening that took place in the early 1700’s in New England was hastened to an early end by disagreements.

If individuals and churches are to experience the new wine of God’s presence, then there must be a change of wineskins. The wineskin represents the structure that carries the fresh wine. In biblical times they were made of goat or sheepskin, and got old and useless when they were not cared for properly. The only way that a wineskin can stay new and pliable is if why are rubbed with olive oil. Obviously, the wineskin pictured the religious establishment in Jesus’ day and prophesied of the church in our day. Only churches that are constantly rubbed and renewed by the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit can carry the new wine of God’s fresh revelation of Himself and what He is doing.

Keys to Experiencing the Moves of God:

1) Consciously Reflective (33-35)
You need to be aware of the things that keep us from receiving a move of God. I think it’s a sad state of the church when the first question is not what you are for but what you are against.

2) Constantly Receptive (30-32)
The reason that the religious leader could not accept the way of God is because it differed from what they believed. You better be sure that what you believe about God comes from His Word. I’m afraid that we have built much of our theology upon the words of the preacher. We have built much of our theology upon the words of songs. We better get our view of God and His ways from His Word or we will miss how He moves today.

3) Consistently Renewed (37-38)
This is where we will be applying the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit. You need to ask the question: “How can I be renewed in my faith?”
a) In Mind
Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
b) In Walk
1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
c) In Worship
Revelation 2:4-5, "Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place--unless you repent.”

Ron Phillips, “Awakened by the Spirit”, said today’s generation wants:
* Personal Relationships and will leave their big screen TV’s to find them.
* Participate & Celebrate. They want to clap, raise their hands, and even dance before the Lord.
* When they are sick, they want to be touched and prayed for.
* They want their children trained to worship.
* Want to know how live in truth and freedom.
* Salvation that not only keeps them out of hell, but also helps them get up on Monday morning.
* Church that will follow Jesus in reaching the poor and hurting and help people out of their lifestyle of despair.
* Intimate walk with Jesus Christ, not just as church that exercises religion but great spiritual freedom.

Members of this generation want more than a sermon. They want the power of God on their lives and families. We need new wineskin churches filled with members who will listen to God, allowing the healing and changing power of His new wine to flow to the ones who desire it most.