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A New Wineskin for A New Day

We are living in exciting times.  The Apostle Paul described our days in 2
Timothy 3:1, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come.”  The word “perilous” means dangerous.  We are living in very dangerous times.

            To quote Charles Dickens, “There are the best of times and the worst of times.”  Our society is increasingly becoming more perverse and violent.  We are inundated with news of shootings, violence, and drug related crimes.  Many times this violence is directed toward the most innocent of our society.
            How do the people of God respond to a society that continues to spiral out of control?  We must be diligent to fulfill the Great Commission.  The times we live in demand a response from God’s people.  This is a “such as time as this” moment.

            The New Testament Church today must raise the level of our commitment to Christ.  We must find our place at the altar and cry out to God for His divine intervention.  The Church must experience a revival and our communities must embrace an awakening.

            In Matthew 9:16-17 Jesus makes this statement, ““No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskin break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.”

            God longs to pour out His Spirit.  The Scriptures teach that He desires that all come to the knowledge of repentance and surrender to His lordship.  We must allow Him to shape and form a new wineskin so that He can pour out His new wine.

            Wine can be figurative of wisdom’s blessings and the joy of the Lord.  Psalms 104:15, “And wine that makes glad the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread which strengthens man’s heart.”  It represents the last day outpouring of God’s Spirit.

            The Apostle Peter is quoted in His message on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:17-18.  “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.  And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.”

            In the midst of our difficulties the Lord has promised to pour out His Spirit.  We must prepare to receive the new wine of His Spirit by allowing Him to develop each of us into a new wineskin.  My prayer is that God will prepare us to receive the new wine.

            The wineskin was an animal skin.  The skin would be drawn over the body of the animal from the neck downward.  It would be tanned; the hair would be cut close and turned inside out.  An older wineskin would be renewed by being soaked in water to soften them.  The wineskin would then be rubbed with oil to prevent leaking and evaporation.


            May our prayer today be, “Lord please wash me in the water of your Word and anoint me with fresh oil,” so that I may be ready to receive the outpouring of Your Spirit.

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