DIRECTIVE #28
July 21, 2014
Matt 9:16-17 16 “But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. 17 “Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”
You don’t put something new on something old. Notice how Jesus said that it is by His mercy that He doesn’t put old wine into new wine skins. If He did everything would be lost, the wine and the skin. So God by His mercy does not pour new wine into old wineskins. He actually wants to create a new wineskin.
Right now, in this age, in the church and around the world, there is a major shift that is taking place in the church concerning our mindset. The Church is shifting from a Congregational mindset to a Kingdom/Apostolic mindset.
The scripture says in Revelation 3:6 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Now most of us by nature do not like change. However, if we are going to be a people who follow God very long, we will discover that change is an absolute. Transition is a part of Kingdom life.
Remember when the Children of Israel were in the wilderness? Remember when the cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night moved? They had to pack up and begin to move. Whether it stayed still for a day, a week, or a year, whenever it began to move they had to move. They had to pack up and transition to the next place.
If we are really going to be a Kingdom people and accomplish what God wants us to be and do, we are going to have to have a heart to change. We can never get stuck in a rut and say, “Well I don’t think I am going to change anymore.” The moment we do that we have just signed our death certificate as far as God using us and us being of any value to the advancement of His Kingdom.
In Genesis 14:13, God calls Abraham a Hebrew. This is the first place this term is ever used. The word “Hebrew” literally means: one who transitions or crosses over. God loves people who have a heart to transition and cross over. This is why God picked Abraham because Abraham by his very nature would not say that his comfort was more valuable to him than the purposes of God and His Kingdom. He was saying that, “I am willing to sacrifice my comfort and convenience for this season in order to move into all that God has for me.”
I want you to know that God is looking for the same kind of people today, as He was when He sought Abraham. A people that will have a heart to change, to transition and to move into all, that God has. I want you to know that when He finds these people, there is no limit to what He can do with them and through them.
Jesus is saying here in Matthew that He will not pour the new wine into the old wineskin so if you want the new wine you will have to allow the structure that holds the new wine to change. You are going to have to go from an old wineskin to a new wineskin because the new fresh thing He is doing in the earth, the old structure won’t hold it. You are going to have to transition into the new structure.
Some questions to consider.
- Are you open to change?
- If the change God required of you was out of your spiritual box and challenged your theology, would you make the adjustments?
- Do you believe that your ability to change affects others around you, those you lead and your purpose?
The prayer point that fits this in my heart is: Open Doors
- God, give us the heart and mind to make the shifts needed when you open new doors for us.
- Pray you don’t enter the new place the way you lived in the last.
God, examine me and challenge me in my mindset, my theology and my purpose.
By: Greg Hood