New Wine for New Wineskins January 2020


Categories :

New Wine Must Have A New Wineskin

The prophetic declaration that we as New Wine Church have been given for 5780-2020 is the “Year of the Unashamed.”
 
As I was thinking about crossing over into a new year and a new decade I was reminded of what Jesus said regarding new wine and a new wineskin.   
 
Luke 5: 37 – 39 (NKJV)
 
37 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. 38 But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. 39 And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’”

NLT

37 “And no one (who knows what they are doing) puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. 38 New wine must be stored in new wineskins. 39 But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.”

New wine can be put into an old wineskin but you will lose the wine and the wineskin will be ruined.

ruineda state of complete disorder or disintegration

New wine must be put into or stored in new wineskins if both are to be preserved and if both are to fulfil their purpose.

So what is the new wine that is referred to here?  I believe it is the truth of the New Covenant that Jesus established in his blood.

Luke 22: 19 – 20

19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”


1.    NEW COVENANT

At the Cross Jesus established a new covenant with the Father on our behalf and in which we are included. The truth of all that this means is guaranteed and sealed by the Holy Spirit – the same Holy Spirit and power with whom Jesus was anointed – who has come and taken up residence in our lives.  Jesus said that he is the Spirit of Truth who has come to lead us into all truth, and so as many as are led by the Spirit of God (into the fullness of the truth of what it means to be a son of God) are the (manifested) sons of God.



The New Covenant is what was prophesied by Isaiah when he said that God would do a new thing.  The new thing was done two thousand years ago.  The tragedy is that the people of God are many times still believing for the new thing to come and so from time to time they break into that already existent new thing for a little while and call it a “revival”. However, because they lack a new wineskin they are unable to contain everything that the new thing includes and involves and so they lose it and are – as I have heard a few people say over the years – “ruined for anything else!”

We need to understand that the Holy Spirit new wine comes to tear down the old order of religion and establish his new order of real, relevant, and radical New Covenant life!  Every time Jesus
made this statement concerning the new wine needing a new wineskin he then did something real, relevant, and radical that revealed and confirmed the truth that the old had gone and the new had come!

Mark 2: 22 – 28

22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”   
23 Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
25 But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: 26 how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?”
27 And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”


I remember a number of years ago on our traditionally Sabbatarian island when they were considering introducing Sunday ferries.  There were two petitions – one for and one against.  Personally, I didn’t sign either petition because while it can be wonderful to have a day of rest and worship that is as uncluttered and as free from the normal run of things as possible, there are also ways in which the gospel can be served by utilising a Sunday ferry service.  The Sunday ferry has been operating for years now and there have been many times when it has been helpful in fulfilling our ministry.

Matthew 9: 17 – 26

17 Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
18 While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live.” 19 So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples.
20 And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment. 21 For she said to herself, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.” 22 But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.
23 When Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, 24 He said to them, “Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him. 25 But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. 26 And the report of this went out into all that land.


Jesus heads down to someone’s house to raise up his dead daughter and on the way heals a woman who has been desperately sick for twelve years.  That’s about as real, relevant, and radical as it gets.

Jesus said that he came to give us an abundance of life that we could fill up with and overflow.  This is New Covenant life. The new (neos) wine (covenant) hadn’t existed before – it is brand new.  The new (kainos) wineskin (creation) is a renewed (redeemed) creation.

Jesus came to redeem us and to recreate us in his image.  The first Adam became a living being and blew it.  He chose to disobey God and so he opened the door to sin and death.  The last Adam
– Jesus – became a life-giving spirit.  He chose obedience and became the door for all to enter into  abundant and eternal life.  The good news of the New Covenant was contained in a statement that was completely shocking to Jesus’ disciples and totally incomprehensible to their natural understanding.  Listen to what he said:

John 16: 5 – 15

5 “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage (better for you) that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.


When they heard that Jesus was going away sorrow filled their heart.  But when the Holy Spirit came he filled their heart and all of the sorrow was gone forever.

Acts 2: 1 – 4, 5 – 7, 13

1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance……5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 7 Then they were all amazed and marveled…..11”we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” 12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?” 13 Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”


Listen to this from Jesus’ mission statement:

Isaiah 61: 1 – 4

1 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, 3 To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.” 4 And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.  

He came so that we could receive the Spirit of adoption and be restored as sons of God and fulfil our destiny as world-changers.

Acts 17: 6

6 …“These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.”

That,
of course, was the world’s perspective as they had, in fact, come to turn the world the right way up. However, the new wine of the New Covenant must have a new wineskin – a new creation.

2.    NEW CREATION

How do you become a new creation?  Jesus put it this way:

John 3: 1 – 8

1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”


The new wineskin must be born again – must be a new creation.  How do you know if you are a new creation?  Quite simply, the old is gone and the new has come!  The old way of thinking, talking, acting, and reacting, etc is gone and a new way of thinking, talking, acting, and reacting, etc has come. I believe that we are in a season when the truly born again who have come through real repentance to genuine faith will rise up into the fullness of what God has designed and destined them to be. I believe that we will see those who have truly separated from the old way of living and embraced the abundance of life that is theirs in Christ Jesus begin to overflow the saving, healing, delivering power of God wherever they go. They will go because that is the only commission that Jesus gave us.  He didn’t say to stay home and build bigger and fancier houses full of bigger and fancier gadgets and gizmos – he said to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature – to pour out the life.

2 Corinthians 5: 14 – 21

14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God,  who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Be reconciled to God!  Don’t try and do anything to work your way into his favour because that has already been done for you.  All we have to do is get in step with God and become his partner in the great harvest of souls.  We have a ministry to fulfil in reaching out with the word of reconciliation
and so we must have a prophetic fire ignited within us that causes us to become passionate about the only thing he is passionate about which is seeking and saving that which is lost.

The new creation knows who he is in Christ Jesus.  But he also knows why he is who he is.  He knows he is saved to bring salvation to others, he knows that he is healed to bring healing to others, he knows that he is delivered to bring deliverance to others, and he knows that he is prospered to bring prosperity to others.

The sad truth is that 95% of all born again people in our western churches never lead another person to Jesus – never mind ministering healing and deliverance or raising the dead.

The new creation knows that his life source is the new covenant and so he never takes it for granted.  He knows that weakness, sickness, and even premature death and unfulfilled destiny are the result of neglecting the great salvation that has been provided for him.

And so, the new creation always seeks a place of new consecration because he understands that he is no longer living for himself.

3.    NEW CONSECRATION

Matthew 26: 36 – 46

36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” 37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. 38 Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”
39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
40 Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? 41 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” 43 And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.
44 So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. 45 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. 46 Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.”


Three times Jesus prayed the same prayer of consecration.  The prayer of consecration says,  “I  submit my will to your will!”  The prayer of consecration is the prayer of self-denial and the prayer of submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the will of the Father.  It is the prayer of the new creation who knows that he is called to be a disciple of Jesus Christ!

Matthew 16: 24 – 25

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

The prayer of consecration is simply saying, “I will your will”.  

Psalm 118: 19 – 21


19 Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, and I will praise the LORD.  20 This is the gate of the LORD, through which the righteous will enter. 21 I will praise You, for You have answered me, and have become my salvation.

Notice how many times he says, “I will”?  Consecration is an act of our will!  It is not surrender – it is submission.  Surrender is normally the action of those who have run out of options, but submission is a choice while there is still an option to refuse.  Surrender is an acknowledgement of weakness and inferiority whereas submission is the act of yielding our strength and ability to the service of another.  Surrender is giving up – submission is hooking up.

What are the gates of righteousness?  What is beyond the gates?  

Psalm 100: 4 – 5

4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. 5 For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.

The gates lead into the courts of the King!  If his kingdom is to come then he must be acknowledged and submitted to and worshipped as King so that his will is done on the earth as it is in heaven!

As we enter the courts of the King we get a vision of the Throne and of the King who sits on the Throne that changes our perspective of everything.  Just like Isaiah we are momentarily undone as we realise that our worship has been faulty and we need a thorough cleansing!  We finally wake up to the reality that being “Spirit-filled” is not enough – we need the baptism of fire!  We see that maybe a few words in tongues and an occasional prophecy isn’t all there is.  Thank God that provision has been made.

Matthew 3: 11 – 12

11 I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

In that place we hear his voice say, “Whom shall I send and who will go for Us?”  The new creation only has one answer – “I will go!”  “Here I am – send me!”

Where is he sent?  To a people who don’t always want to hear what he has to say and who don’t always understand even when they hear.  What is he sent with?  A message that is pure and unadulterated, uncompromised truth!   

What is his motivation?  The love of God!  The first thing that the Holy Spirit does is heal your broken heart.  If you receive his healing you will experience his deliverance, the eyes of your understanding will be opened and you will begin to receive revelation that will set you free from every manifestation of oppression and cause you to fill up with and overflow the blessings of the kingdom.   

Under the old covenant the males were circumcised and their foreskins were cut as a mark of the covenant.  In the new covenant there is also a circumcision but it is of the heart and there is no distinction between male and female.  God’s word cut between our soul and our spirit and made us alive and the Holy Spirit opened up the cry, “Abba, Father” on the inside of us. Under the old covenant the law was written on tablets of stone and those who were circumcised were obligated to keep the law, but in the new covenant the law is written on our hearts and it is love that is our motivation and not law!  As long as I choose to walk in love I don’t have to slavishly wonder if I am doing enough to keep God off my back.  When I walk in love I keep the law as a supernatural by-product but law is not my motivation – love is!

John 14: 15 – 24

15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. 19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.

Jesus gave us a new covenant summary of the law.

Matthew 22: 37 – 40

37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it:  ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

He also gave us a new commandment for the new covenant new creation.

John 13: 34 – 35

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Jesus was the embodiment of the law walking around and yet those who considered themselves to be guardians of the law sought to kill him.  Sound familiar?  They failed to recognise that the law was the articulation of God’s love and so without love in their hearts they could never understand it.  Paul’s ministry was plagued by legalisers who continually sought to reduce the new covenant back to the letter of the law.  Even Peter was temporarily influenced by them.  But Paul wrote this:

2 Corinthians 3: 5 – 9

5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

Never forget – the Spirit and the Word are one and the same – they work together.

Consecration is always an issue of the heart.  Our desire is simply to walk in love and so fulfil the will of our Father in heaven which is to see his kingdom rule manifested in the earth.

A few years ago I spent several months reading Psalm 119 every day. I was so blessed as I received fresh understanding of the relationship between whole-hearted worship of God and the keeping of his word.  I have always believed that, but I just needed it to be reinforced afresh in my life.  My heart’s desire is for the fulfilment of his word, his testimonies, his statutes, his commandments, his judgements, his precepts, his ordinances, his law, and his ways.

Listen to this prayer of consecration prayed by John G. Lake who ministered powerfully in Africa and the U.S. in first half of the twentieth century.

Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you boldly in Jesus’ name. Take me as I am. I now give myself – my heart, my mind, my body, my time, talents and treasure to you. Fill me and possess me. I renounce all sins, self and satan. Jesus, sanctify me. Cleanse me, purge me, purify me. Your will be done in my life, on earth as it is in heaven. Let me manifest a faithful spirit, a pure mind and a sickness-free body to your glory. Amen.

One time, while assisting doctors in South Africa during a bubonic plague outbreak, he was asked why he had not contracted the disease since he had used none of their medical protection. He said, “It is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” To demonstrate, he had them take live bubonic plague germs still foaming from the lungs of a newly dead person and put them in his hands and then examine the germs under a microscope. They were dead.

That is the power of the new covenant operating in the life of a new creation who came to a place of new consecration.

I believe that in this year of the unashamed we are going to see more of God’s people rising up from a place of new consecration into the fullness of who they are as a new creation and ministering the fullness of the new covenant.  Remember that it is through consecration that we discover his will for our lives.

Romans 12: 1 – 2 (Amplified)

1 I APPEAL to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.
2 Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].


There is one more thing that this will result in.

4.    NEW COMMITMENT

One of the things that has plagued the Body of Christ for years has been a lack of commitment.  This is often the fruit of not having a proper understanding of covenant.  Many people either resist any kind of commitment or they make commitments and then fail to follow through on them.  As soon as they encounter opposition or difficulty or conflict of interest they forget the commitment they have made and either slip back into spectator church, or slip out of church altogether.  I believe that is because their commitment came out of a sense of obligation and not from a place of consecration.  Whatever we do out of obligation will always wear us out and become tedious and boring but what arises out of consecration is an act of worship and so the presence of God in what we are doing carries us and strengthens us even through difficult times when the temptation is to give up or throw in the towel.

1 Corinthians 10: 31

31 Therefore…whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

I believe that in this year
of the unashamed we are going to going to see more people within local churches moving into position and active service to take up the burden and develop the ministry of the church to where the vision that God has given us can be fulfilled and increased and expanded and fulfilled again.

The first place that our new commitment will be in evidence is in the life of the local church family in which we have been planted.  The local church is God’s Plan ‘A’ and there is no Plan ‘B’.  Every other ministry and outreach is an extension of the local church and any reproduction of the local church in another location will eventually become autonomous while still maintaining relationship.

And so, as we enter the year of the unashamed, if your heart is being stirred by the revelation of the new covenant and what it truly means to be a new creation and if that is leading you to a place of new consecration then let us together at the beginning of this new year make a new commitment that will strengthen our relationships with one another and make us stronger as a team. And as we pray to our heavenly Father for his kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven we will be a people who have entered the gates of righteousness and who praise the LORD with whole hearts so that the manifest presence of the KING is in our coming together to the extent that people can find salvation, healing, and deliverance in our midst!

5780-2020 – The Year of the Unashamed.

1 thought on “New Wine for New Wineskins January 2020”

  1. Wow Donnie!!!! Just finished reading this I am not ashamed. It reminded me of the morning thought my dad used to do On Isles FM.. It was entitled I Am Not Ashamed.. very good and apt message as always for a time such as this. We all have to stand up and be counted…
    God bless you all
    Sandra

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *