Coming Home to Community VI, Wonderful New Wineskins

An old garment. Because if he does, the new piece, when it shrinks, you see, will pull away from the old and make the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. For if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins. Paul's going to help me here with this. For those of us who don't know what a wineskin is, it's of course an ancient device. Here's a couple of Middle Eastern examples. Originally it was made from a small little goat, and the goat's neck was the neck of the bottle, and they put a cork in it, and then of course the leather was where the wine. And these are great illustrations because these are brittle. If I put some new wine in here, unfermented wine, you know what would happen to these? The seams would burst and the wine would spill out. Jesus is saying, I want to pour new wine into my people, but I don't want to pour it into old containers because it'll just fall on the ground and it'll be wasted. He said, I want you to form some new wineskins. What is this new wine? What am I talking about? About 10 days ago now, 12 days ago, your pastoral team, you may have heard this through the Inevitable North Way Grapevine, your pastoral team and their spouses managed to get down to a little church in a community called Brownsville, Florida, near Pensacola, to witness what has become known as the Brownsville Revival. We walked into the building and we opened the double doors on Tuesday night. It was prayer meeting night. My friends, the church building, by the way, is very similar in size, a little different structure and architecture, but it seats 2,400 with a balcony. The bottom floor is about the same size as this place. And the entire place was filled with people, 1,500 or more people in prayer. I mean, in earnest prayer, some audibly calling out to God with a loud voice, others quietly sobbing, some just prostrate laying on the floor. Every once in a while, the leader would stand up and say, now let's all go and let's pray toward this particular direction or for this particular need. They had some banners around the auditorium, one that said schools and one that said government, one that said healing and one that said deliverance and one that said salvation. A dozen or so of these banners, one for pastors where I parked myself. And the people would pray over those things and the prayer went on for a nearly two hour period. And it was earnest, heartfelt prayer. It wasn't like people, it wasn't boring prayer meeting where you're just looking at how much longer. It was like energy. And I knew that what was happening in that church was happening because the people had discovered the power of prayer. What's happening in that church? Well, as of our visit, at least 90,000 people, I didn't say 90 people or 9,000, 90,000 people have come forward to the front of that church and signed commitment cards to give Jesus Christ lordship of their lives. 90,000 people. Now that isn't necessarily an indication that they're doing everything right because in fact they're not. But it is an indication that the presence of God is drawing people from all over the world. God is moving in that church and he's moving in response to hungry hearts. But I want to just lift you up for a couple moments, think about the world for a second. Brownsville assembly of God is one little church in the panhandle of Florida, but all over the world today God is moving. Dick Eastman, who we've had it here at North Way, teaches on prayers, written many books. Dick Eastman recently finished his 11th trip around the world. Listen to this, frequent flyers, 11th trip around the world in 15 months. Figure that one out. And when he finished this trip, Dick Eastman wrote an article for Charisma and he was astonished at what he saw. Here's what he said, nothing in the history of the world, of world evangelism compares with what is happening today. You see, if you go around the world, God is doing a whole lot more, it seems, in other nations. In Indonesia, we had two of our elders just returned from Vietnam and I mean, they're just bumbling over. Yeah, I mean, they're just, I mean, you just put them in a room and they'll talk to themselves about everything is going on. It's just exciting moves of God, every place they went. Africa, we had a man here this morning from the nation of Africa in the first service. Africa is hungry for the gospel. It's growing in leaps and bounds. Argentina, Brazil, Central America. In fact, friends, the gospel seems to be having some of its least impact here in America. But may I tell you this, I think God is stirring once again. I think he's hearing the hard cry of some of you here today and some of you who have over the last month said, God, please don't miss America. Wouldn't it be a tragedy if God moved one more time throughout the world before the coming of Christ and he passed over America. But I sense that's not what's going to happen if we'll hold on to him. This little article, Christ for the Nations magazine says, this freshness from heaven is touching the Lord's church. A refreshing, recovering, and reviving spirit has come from heaven to strengthen the body of Christ and to release an explosion of evangelism. Make no mistake, the new wine I'm going to talk about isn't just so that we can get drunk with it, though I'm going to talk about that. It's so that we can have a fresh infilling and go out into the schools and out into the marketplace and out into the neighborhoods and tell the people that we care about that, wait a minute, there's something more to God than the average package that's been passed on down through the generations. That's the purpose of this move. That's what God is doing. Frankly, that was one thing about what's happening at Brownsville that was very intriguing to me. The commitment to see people come to know Jesus Christ. I'll talk a little bit more about that in a moment. What is this new wine? Look at your teaching outline. Just look at it quickly with me. Jesus referred to new wine. The New Testament often uses the metaphor of new wine with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The first miracle Jesus performed was at a wedding feast when he changed water to wine. Now people say, well, was it really wine or was it grape juice? When I talk to someone and such a powerful testimony from an alcoholic, we would never say to a person that has conquered that addiction by the power of God, well, just go ahead and die. No, that's not what he's saying. Symbolically, he's saying, I've come to change the ordinary things of life into the extraordinary things of God. Notice what it says. He thus revealed his glory and his disciples put their faith in him. John 2 verse 11. Then in Acts chapter 2, when the disciples received the outpouring of the Spirit, how come you don't have your outline? You need your outlines. You're lost. I'm reading that. Get your outline. Ushers, bring some outlines down here, please. We have some people without outlines. Acts chapter 2. Read this with me out loud, everyone. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. That's it. See, that's exactly what it sounded like. Say that together. Some, however, made fun of them and said, they've had too much wine. You see, the effect of the presence of God was, the only they could compare it to was, these people were staggeringly drunk and they were just babbling on. And Peter turned to them and the next verse says, wait a minute, it's only nine o'clock in the morning. They're not drunk, as you suppose. They've received the power of God, the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Paul writes later on, Ephesians 5.18, do not get drunk on wine. Instead, be filled. And that word in the Greek is technically the present perfect tense. Be being filled. Continually be filled with the Holy Spirit. If you were filled yesterday, bless God, but you should be filled today again. Be being filled with the Holy Spirit. This new wine, you see, is a refreshing from God. But I have to say, it doesn't always seem to be as available at times. And right now is the time I sense that God is saying, for those who are thirsty, for those who want a refreshing, God's Spirit is available. Look at the next verse. Whatever our previous experience, all of us need a refreshing in the Holy Spirit. Look at Acts 3.19. Repent, therefore, and receive those times of refreshing in the Holy Spirit. You see, what is revival? Well, it's nothing less than God coming, than Jesus walking by, than heaven opening up and God coming down. That's revival that God wants to bring to the church. And friends, listen to me. I say this with humility today, I believe he wants to bring it to this church. Some of us are going to get our boats rocked big time. Some of us are going to be just so happy, they're going to say, and they're going to stand up and say with a measure of pride, I told you it was coming. Some of you are going to say, I have no idea what this is, but I want it. You see, when the Spirit of God begins to move, it's hard to know what's going to happen. And I don't know that it will be anything at all here like it is in another place, in Montana or California or Florida or anyplace else. But look at Isaiah 64, when the prophet said this. I'm not sure this is on your outline. Isaiah 64, do we have that overhead? The prophet says, Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down. That's what revival is. Rending, what's rending? What's another word for rending? Tearing. That you'd tear open the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you, as when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you. For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down and the mountains trembled before you. Since ancient times, no one has heard, nor ears perceived, nor eye has seen any God besides you who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. Friends, God wants to come down. And when he does, when he brings revival, everything changes. Stuff that couldn't get fixed, God fixes. Let me just run through those seven items. This isn't on your outline, so you don't have to follow your outline in this, but look at these seven things. This just touched me. Seven things, just went through them real quickly there. First thing that happens is that when God comes down, he dissolves immovable difficulties. Mountains that couldn't move, God moves. In this particular renewal, people who had found themselves stuck in addictions found that God's presence broke addictions. God dissolves immovable difficulties. Next, God removes dead areas in our lives. Don't put your hand up, but how many of us right now would have to admit that there are portions of your spiritual life that are dry, barren, and if you're honest, have not had a pulse for some time. When revival comes, God changes those dry areas. Next, please. God restores our zeal. In verse two, it says, the fire sets the twigs to burn and the water to boil. He gives you a fresh zeal so that when you go out into the highways and byways, you're not this sort of secret undercover Christian, but you're ready to be used by God with a fresh boldness. Next, please. God brings victory against the enemies. The Bible says, your enemies shall know the power of your name. Friends, some of us know that we can't fight our battles without the power of God. Next, verse two, our vision is enlarged. The nations will quake before you. One of the things that I believe is so true of this church is God has told us our vision is not just Wexford or the North Hills or Pittsburgh, but God has said, enlarge your heart to the nations. And I'm going to tell you today that what God wants to do will send us out to nations, not just to our neighborhoods. It's coming. Next, true revival of the impossible becomes reality. One pastor reported he had come to the revival three months beforehand. He stood up and he said kind of sheepishly, well, you know, my wife made me come last time. And I went back to my church. I drove back all the way to Texas or wherever it was. And he said, all the way back, I was thinking, well, I did what you wanted me to do, but it sure was a waste of my time. I got into my church that Sunday and I prayed for people like I normally do. And suddenly power began to fall on people. And then he began to tell the story of person after person, all the way to the final story that he told was that a person with cerebral palsy, who'd been a young person, who'd just been afflicted and under torment, began to be freed from that very difficult disease and how the power of God was healing that person. And then he suddenly was quiet. That was the end of the story as the power of God fell over him. The impossible becomes possible. And finally, God removes, or God moves rather on behalf of those who wait on him. Friends, waiting on God, we're going to talk about that in just a moment. That's an important part of what has to take place. Now, how many of you, could we put the screen down just a bit more, guys? Those seven things, how many of you are a candidate for at least two of those? Or maybe four? How many just say, look, if you're passing them out, I'll take one of each? God, that's what revival does. It opens us up to all that God would want to do. And that's far more than the ordinary and the routine. And that's a lot more than many of us have been experiencing in a long time. But let me just share with you five reasons why we resist it. This is on your outline. Look at it. One of the things that we do attitudinally is we put, as D. Martin Moore Jones said, the greatest sin of the evangelical church is that we want to put God in a little box. Friends, ask yourself the question, what size box has your God been in? What size has it been in? How much have you tried to contain what the Lord is doing? Have you been just predetermining the parameters of God's moving in your life? Here are the obstacles as I see them. Number one, the spirit of religion. It's the attitude that basically says, as the Pharisees demonstrated, wait a minute, it says it's supposed to be this way. And if it's not this way, then I don't want it. How many of you have read the Gospels and realized that the only unkind words that Jesus ever spoke were to the Pharisees? He never had an unkind word for a tax collector who was basically an unethical businessman. He didn't have an unkind word for the people who were winebibbers and drunkards. The only people that Jesus said, woe to you, were the Pharisees. Are you hearing me? They were the people who said, wait, this is the way it's got to be done. And they had their scriptures. Please understand something. The Pharisees were very intellectually bright people. They were the upper crust of their day. They knew the Hebrew scriptures inside out. Jesus warned against the leaven of the Pharisees. And I say, the spirit of the religion is what will tell you, well, if it's not according to this precise pattern, then I don't want anything to do with it. Friends, the Pharisees missed Jesus. They missed the resurrection because it wasn't according to the pattern they had seen. And we have to say, God, please give me a humble heart. Don't give me, let me have a spirit of religion. Someone told me they invited their in-laws to come to the Christmas Eve service. They just begged them to come. And the mother ultimately said, I'm not going into that church. And by that, she meant that one that she perceived was just too different for her. What is that? That's a spirit of religion because she went to a church, but she didn't want to go into that church. Second thing is busyness. Look at the message translates Luke 10 41, Mary and Martha, that famous story where Martha's hurrying around trying to get things, look at this. Martha, dear Martha, you're fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. I have to confess to you that I know talking to our pastoral team and our elders, we all struggle with this. We have so much on our plate, so many needs to meet, so much busyness. There's so much, so many demands, but friends, can we really expect God to move if we're too busy to wait on him? Can we expect God to move when we say, all right, God, I'm going to give you 10 minutes. And by the way, you know, the service is supposed to end in about nine minutes, God. And if you haven't moved by then I'm out of here. Are you here in the church? Please understand we can't hurry God. I was stopped dead in my tracks by the quote, flip your paper over, please. Look at the very last quote. A.W. Tozer, I think he was a Christian missionary alliance, wasn't he? Here's what he said. He wrote the book, Pursuit of God. There are occasions when for hours I lay prostrate before God without saying a word of prayer or a word of praise. I just gaze on him. I had such conviction when I read that because that's not Jay Pasadena. And I guess I have a sense that might not be too many of you as well. I need a remote in my hand. I need to be able to say something. I need a CD on. I need, I need, I need, I just don't gaze. But that takes time, friends. And may God grant us in these next weeks some time to hear from the Lord. The third is pride. And as difficult as this is to confront, we must. You see, our pride is the belief that we don't need to change, that I'm very comfortable with where I am. Thank you very much. And may I say in all due love and respect for those of you who have maybe been in Christ longer than I, those of you who are products of the move of God that happened back in the late 60s and early 70s, those of you, listen carefully, of the earlier charismatic wave, pride in us says, I know exactly what God's going to do because I've been there. And I want you to know, in all due love and respect, what God is doing today is different than what he did 25 years ago. It's a different move. And we need to step out of the old and put on the new. Jesus said, you know, some of those who drink the new wine say, no, I'd rather have the old. God forbid that that be true of us. How many of you are a former or current Roman Catholic? Just put up your hand and encourage everyone. Look at that. I mean, do you ever if you're alone, it seems like the majority of the church. Did you know that the charismatic renewal in the Catholic church that has spread around the world? And I don't know how many tens of millions of Catholic charismatics there are, but there are a lot of them all over the world. Started right down here in Duquesne University, 1967, right here in Pittsburgh. But that was a former generation. And what God is doing now is a new thing. And he's not distinguishing between Catholic and Presbyterian and non-denominational Episcopalian. He's doing, he's pouring out some new wine. And pride needs to just be laid on the altar. And we need to say, God, I'm ready for the new wine. I've had enough of the old. I want some new. I want it now. The fourth thing that would keep us is fear. Fear that we're afraid of being led astray. We're afraid of, is this a cult? Friends, I always want to say something. It's a sad commentary on the condition in America when a church that simply preaches the gospel and worships according to scripture is considered a cult. That's exactly, that's the truth. And if somebody comes to you and says, well, is that church you're in a cult? Then you need to say to them, you know, it's a sad commentary on your discernment of what the Bible says. And that there are churches like this all over America. In fact, these are the only churches that are, the other churches are all declining in membership. It's churches where the Bible is being taught and people are committing their lives that are growing because they're following the biblical pattern. And I want to say in the same breath, if somehow you sense in here that we're missing, that we're in error, then you come bring it to the attention of an elder and we'll, we'll search it out. And we would never lead you anywhere that the scripture doesn't lead us. I don't say that, that we couldn't, you know, we could fall into error. Absolutely could. That's why we're on our face praying. Your elders pray every Wednesday night for an hour up in that prayer chapel together. Lord, keep us on track. Keep us moving along with some other, other, other group times as your leadership. Fear will keep you from what God wants to pour out in your life. And you're going to see some things in the next week's folks that you've not seen before. I saw some things that I hadn't seen before, but we need to understand God's a lot bigger. There's a lot of room in the scriptures for stuff we don't understand. People say, well, I don't know about some of these manifestations. I don't either. We are not here. Listen carefully. We are not going to seek manifestations. There is no, the manifestation, just like tongues isn't the manifestation that you should seek for being filled with the spirit. This renewal of God, this new one doesn't mean that, well, if you don't fall down or if you don't get this or don't, that's not it at all. But if some of those things happen, neither can I say to you, well, you, that's the devil. There's so much in the Bible that we don't understand. You know, the story in the gospels where the Bible says that they took, they went with Jesus and they took him out to a cliff and they wanted to push him over. And the Bible says that Jesus got up and walked right through their midst. Now you put the pieces together there. All I know is that it says they were backing him toward a cliff and they wanted to push him over and kill him. And the Bible says he got up and walked through their midst. What did he do? What kept the people from choking him or putting their arms around him and throwing him off the cliff? What was it? What was it? It was the power of God. And when I, all I can tell you is when the power of God comes, you just don't know exactly what's going to happen. When John in the book of Revelation saw Jesus, the Bible says, listen, he fell at his feet as though dead. I want to submit to you that might be an indication of what it means to be slain. Oh, I don't know about that pastor. I don't know either, but it might be laying at the feet because he saw a lot of room in the Bible for me to say, okay, God, I'm not going to put you in a little box. You just do what you want to do. You move. Don't be afraid church. Don't let fear rob you from what God wants to do. And I could talk so much more about that. Look with Jonathan Edwards. And by the way, this stuff is not new. Look at Jonathan Edwards said, turn your page over. Persons are very ready to be suspicious of what they've not felt themselves. It is to be feared. Many good men have been guilty of this error. These persons that thus make their own experience, their rule of judgment, instead of bowing to the wisdom of God and yielding to his word as an infallible rule are guilty of casting a great reflection upon the understanding of most time. 250 years ago, Jonathan Edwards said, wait, if you say that the only true manifestation of God is what you've experienced, then you're missing. And unfortunately that's, that's just people's pride. So let's just give one another room to say, God, wherever you want to move, I want to be open to it. I want to receive. But yeah, finally, it's just being resistant to change, change. How many of you love to change? God's looking. You love to change. Most of us do not want to change. Most of us would much rather just say, Hey, I've got my defined. I've got my boundaries. Let me alone. God's saying to us, be open to change. Don't resist change. Expect things to happen that haven't been happening. Expect the times that you're gonna have to pay a bit of a price for change. Maybe your small group meeting might go over a little bit because God's moving. Maybe you'll have to wait in line to get into church. What? Are you kidding? When we arrived in Pensacola on Wednesday morning, we went to the church to check it out and people were starting to form a line at 1130 in the morning for the 7 p.m. service. And it was a rainy, ugly day. I mean, 45 degrees, solid rain, steady rain, kind of cold, biting, windy. And several of our group, I said, Well, you know what? We've come all this way. We only have a couple of days. Let's just get in line. I want to be able, because we were told if you didn't get in line, you wouldn't get in the main auditorium. 2500 seats, but you wouldn't get in if you didn't get in line. Well, some of us looked at the conditions and said, Boy, this is serious commitment here. And about seven or eight seriously committed ones said, We're staying. And so the rest of us went and got them some lawn chairs and ponchos and big umbrellas and parkas and said, Okay, and we'll pray for you. And those seven or eight plot themselves down in the line and waited it out because they didn't want to miss what was going on. Now, as things would have it, you can call it luck or discernment. The weather kept the crowds down that night and everybody got in the main auditorium. Some walked in it just when the doors opened at six. And some had been in line all day, got in just about two minutes before they did. And you know, the pay at 6am and then some showed up at 5pm and they got the same pay. There was some attitudes there, I'll tell you that. The first thing you need to repent of was, How'd you get this? This isn't fair, God, but we got over that. And the Lord just took care of it. You need to be resistant, not resistant to change, but open to what God wants to do. Friends, so much I want to say, but I'm going to stop here in just a moment. You know, God is moving. The new wine is touching lives. Hundreds and hundreds of students. If you're sitting near a high school or junior high student right now, just tap them on the shoulder and say, this is for you. Hundreds and hundreds of students have had their lives changed. Prior to this revival time down there, there was only one or two campuses on which there was a presence of Christians. Now every campus, 32 of them have high school and junior high meetings going on. We were told of an incident not too long ago when the police arrested three high school students for a drug bust, driving them to jail. And on the way, one said, well, we ought to stop at that church and make them go to that revival. Like it was some punishment. And they did. They brought the kids in and sat with them. And at the end of the service, two of the young people came and gave their lives to Christ. Now imagine, you tell me what's going to change the human heart. Is it going to be a jail sentence or probation or getting hooked up in a detention center? What's going to turn those young people around? Or is it going to be the power of God in their lives? The crime rate in Florida went up 1% last year, but in the county in which that church is located, it's gone down 13% recorded. That's revival. Those are signs that God is still here. I don't know if that's what he wants to do here. All I can tell you is, I want to be where he's pouring out new wine. I want to be where God is moving. And one last thing, the balance of the message, and we'll have to pick this up some way somehow next week. When God pours out his spirit, he's got to pour it into a new wine scheme, and that is the container. And the thing that God has given us as a container here at North Way are the cell groups, the community groups that we've been talking about the last months now, that the elders and pastors have been building for the last 18 months, that many of you have already begun to be part of. But friends, you've got to understand something. If the new wine comes and there's no wine skin to put it in, it's going to fall in the ground. And my greatest disappointment, if you would, at what I saw as part of that revival is that there doesn't seem to be a new wine skin. I'm seeing all this wine poured out, but it's kind of falling on the ground and people, 90,000 people, where are they? And I just want to say, let's be committed as a church, let's follow your leadership, let's be in tune with what God is saying, and let's get plugged into a community group, into a small group that's going to help you to secure that fresh mood that God's about to pour out. Are you with me on that? What's going to come first, the new wine or the new wine skin? Well, I don't know. Maybe they'll come at the same time. Jesus didn't say, he just said, one must come with the other. So maybe the new wine and the new wine skin. Put one eye on God and the new wine and one eye on the new wine skin. And let's ask God to build both here amongst us, because I believe it's going to be a growing process of His love. I left down there with a conviction about two things, and I close with this. When God pours out His new wine, two things happen. It's conviction of sin. Let's put that up, please, Karen. Conviction of sin and hunger for God. That's letter D under Roman numeral I. The marks of the revival we witnessed were conviction of sin and hunger for God. Look at the second quote. Revival is always the revival of holiness, and it begins with a terrible conviction of sin. It is often the form that this conviction of sin takes that troubles those who fear, or read rather, of revival. Sometimes the experience is crushing. People weep uncontrollably and worse, but there's no such thing as a revival without tears of conviction and sorrow. Look at the quote right above it. It is that earnest seeking of God, that desperate thirst and thriving hunger that is so characteristic of revival. It leads to an encounter that is so dramatic that we can only say your love is better than life. What more can we want than Him? What more does He want than you and me? Friends, let's be honest with God. As a church today, will you let God look into your heart and show you where you have allowed sin to take some territory, where you have allowed an attitude, where you have allowed indifference, ungraciousness, lust, rebellion, fear to dominate your life, and say, oh God, I want the new wine and I want to repent. Can you say with Isaiah, I saw the Lord high and lifted up and His train filled the temple, and the angels cried, holy, holy, holy, and I said, woe is me for I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips and that's when it begins. Would you stand with me right now and say, Lord, meet us right here. Meet us right now. Meet us as we conclude this morning. Meet us with your presence. I'd like to ask you, unless you've got an emergency, would you just stay with us for the next five minutes as we conclude together? I know I've gone over and I don't apologize for it. What you've seen today is life change, and what God wants to do is to continue to pour out His Spirit. Let's bow and pray. How many would say today that you're a candidate for some new wine, that you're saying, Lord, do whatever you need to do in my heart, but give me a taste of what you have for me. Just lift your hand up right now and say, that's me. If that is, if it's your heart, yes. Thank you. Thank you for this church. Thank you for the humbleness. And Lord, we recognize that you will only come to hearts that are repentant, to people that are willing to say, we don't have it all for them.