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The Wineskin

  • No one puts new wine into old wine skins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wine skins, and both are preserved. Luke 5:37-38 WEB (Paralleled in: Matthew 9:17, Mark 2:22).

    The most radical change recorded in the Bible was the change from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. John the Baptist was the last prophet of the Old Covenant, while Jesus Christ was the beginning of the New Covenant. A graceful transition took place between these two, a changing of the guard.

    When the disciples of John the Baptist came to hear Jesus, He told them the parable of the Wineskin. Jesus said that when God has new wine for His people, He pours it into a new, flexible wineskin. He doesn't pour new wine into an old, hardened wineskin, even though some of them may have served as His new wineskin in the past. God loves the last generation as well, and He does not want to destroy them with something radically new, explosive, perhaps beyond their ability to comprehend or contain.

    Let's take a deeper look at that. In ancient times, whole animal skins, generally taken from goats, were cleaned by a tanner or leatherworker like the Apostle Paul, then they were sewn into watertight bags. These were used to store wine. New wineskins were stretchable and elastic, but they became more set, hardened, and even brittle as they grew older.

    When grapes begin to ripen in the fall, natural yeast gathers on the outside of the grape skin, just waiting to make the fresh grape juice into lunch. The instant the grape skin is broken, the yeast begins to ferment the juice into wine. As the yeast feed on the natural sugar in the grape juice, it produces alcohol and carbon dioxide, which expands in the container. During the first three to five days, the fermentation is extremely volatile and downright explosive, then it gradually becomes less until all the sugar in the juice is consumed.

    The New Wine that God brought through Jesus Christ was explosive. Radical change like this always meets resistance from the old, but not from godly anointed leaders. John the Baptist, leader of the Old, blessed the New that was coming and said: Jesus must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30), and 'He who is coming is mightier than I' (Matthew 3:11). Nicodemus is another example of an anointed old-wineskin leader and Gamaliel (Acts 5:34). They recognized and gracefully embraced the change that God was bringing.

    On the other hand, God's changes are always resisted by the non-anointed leaders of the old wineskin establishment. For example, the attitude of the chief priests was the exact opposite of John the Baptist's perspective. The last thing they were willing to do was decrease and lose the position of power they were enjoying in the old wineskin establishment. Rather than embrace change, the chief priests were filled with envy and plotted how they might kill Jesus (Matthew 26:1).

    After Jesus ascended to heaven, the new church grew in amazing ways. The shadow of Peter passing over people in the streets healed them. Then a few years later, God did unusual miracles through the Apostle Paul. Acts 19:11 tells us that even handkerchiefs sent from Paul to others healed them. That was the beginning of the prayer cloth, and it was something new that God did through the next generation of believers, but not through the original Apostles that had walked with Jesus like Peter, James, and John.

    This is important to understand: The Apostle Paul wasn't one of the original twelve Apostles that walked with Jesus on the Earth for three and a half years. Paul wasn't in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. Acts 9:4 tells us that Paul was converted later on the road to Damascus, oddly enough, while on his way to arrest some of Jesus' disciples. Paul had a personal experience with Jesus outside of the new church, and the original Apostles were not involved in his conversion at all. He had never met them.

    This means that if Peter, James, John, and all the original Apostles of Jesus had sat down together and written down all they knew God had done so far. Suppose they had compiled all their experience and knowledge and turned it into a denominational belief system. That being healed by a person's shadow would have been included, but prayer cloths wouldn't have, for it happened outside their circle of knowledge. God did something new through someone they didn't yet know. Yet, when they learned about it, they accepted it gracefully. They were anointed leaders.

    We are moving into the digital age, and what used to work no longer does. Things are changing, and we are moving into a new era. To stay in tune with what God is doing today, we must remain humble, teachable, flexible, and expandable. If you try to cling to the old, you will become unusable. God is not dead, and He is full of surprises. So let His Kingdom come, and let ours go gracefully.

    Prayer: Heavenly Father, please let me see what You are doing today through Your eyes. I choose to believe that You are alive, that You love me, and that You are listening to me today. I want to ally myself with You, be part of what You are doing, and walk hand in hand. Come and be a part of my life today. Help me be stretchable; in the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!

    Note: For those following the Creation Photography weekly challenges, here is this week's theme from group leader, Dianna Wyles: Psalm 25:7 "Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, Lord, are good." ~ 'Days Gone By' or 'Memory Makers' will be our next fun-tastic theme choices and are wide open for creative interpretation so have fun and get creative. Show us how you spend Memorial day or show us your heroes or just post anything that inspires you! My photos this week acknowledge our service members with a photo of my brother, dad (RIP), grandpa (RIP), uncle, brother, and son-in-law all served our country in some branch of service or another. Have a most memorable week, everyone, reflecting as always, on how good the Lord truly is. God bless! Here is the link: Creation Photographers


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24 comments
  • 3
Debi Burton
Debi Burton Heavenly Father, please let me see what You are doing today through Your eyes. I choose to believe that You are alive, that You love me, and that You are listening to me today. I want to ally myself with You, be part of what You are doing, and walk hand in hand. Come and be a part of my life today. Help me be stretchable; in the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!❤️
May 31, 2022
  • 3
Kevin J. Eck
Kevin J. Eck Amen, Keep me teachable in the Arms of your Grace Father!
May 31, 2022
  • 2
Kay Collinsworth
Kay Collinsworth

Amen 

May 31, 2022
  • 3
Brenda F
Brenda F

Amen 

May 31, 2022
  • 3
Dana Rozell
Dana Rozell

Amen.

May 31, 2022
  • 3
Celeste Strenn
Celeste Strenn

Amen

May 31, 2022
  • 4
Patricia Walker
Patricia Walkeredited: May 31, 2022

Amen.  Heavenly Father,  Teach me Your ways and words.  Thank You for Blessing me.  AMEN

May 31, 2022
  • 3
Candy Laventure
Candy Laventure

Lord, my desire is to learn more . Amen!

May 31, 2022
  • 3
Yvette York
Yvette York

Amen Good Morning Everyone 

May 31, 2022
  • 3
Lynn Brown
Lynn Brown

Yes Father, show me Your will today, Amen!

May 31, 2022
  • 2
Wanda Pennington
Wanda Pennington

Amen 

May 31, 2022
  • 3
Schalk  de Beer
Schalk de Beer

Yes Lord Jesus, amen. 

May 31, 2022
  • 3
Maria Melendez
Maria Melendez

Amen ,God Bless !!!

May 31, 2022
  • 3
Cathy Webb
Cathy Webb

Lord, find me humble, teachable, flexible, and expandable today. Thank you for Your leading! Amen

May 31, 2022
  • 3
Jose Simo
Jose Simo

Heavenly Father I thank You for all Your blessings and care for me a sinner, I need more of You in my life and do what is for me to do according to Your will. In Jesus Christ name I pray, Amen. 

Awesome devotional Pastor, God bless you and Sylvia, Amen. 

May 31, 2022
  • 2
Marisa Jackson
Marisa Jackson

Amen!!

May 31, 2022
  • 2
David  Earlywine
David Earlywine

Amen 

May 31, 2022
  • 3
Mari Kaufmann
Mari Kaufmann

God I feel such gratitude for all you've done for my family. You got us through so much. My Grandchildren need your Holy Spirit to help them prosper. I thank you for all you've done and are going to do in the name of Jesus Amen 

May 31, 2022
  • 2
Scott Riegelmann
Scott Riegelmann

Amen Lord help me to stay teachable and willing to make the changes you want in Jesus'name I pray 

May 31, 2022
  • 2
David Fabillaran
David Fabillaran

Amen Lord Jesus!

May 31, 2022
  • 2
Sherry McCosh
Sherry McCosh

Thank you for the devotion for today. This helps me to understand the parable of the new wineskin because I really never understood the message Jesus for saying when He said it.

May 31, 2022
  • 1
Richard Mondello
Richard Mondello

In Lord Yeshua's name we ask  ,Amen. 

May 31, 2022
  • 1
Marilyn Salter
Marilyn Salter

Lord, Imready for anything new you want me to learn. I wait impatiently for voice of the archangel from Heaven to come so that I can meet my Lord in the sky. God bless and keep us all in His loving care.

June 1, 2022
  • 1
Wesley Paulus
Wesley Paulus

Amen! 

June 1, 2022