The Parable of the
New Wine In Old Wineskins

• The "imagination" is a whole world inside the mind...

Parables are powerful "word-pictures" that are meant to be engrafted into our thinking...as mental pictures do control our thought-life.

That's where the "imagination" gets involved. The imagination allows mental exploration of the past, present, future. It is the ability to see pictures and images in the "movie theater" of the mind. The imagination is the "workshop" of the human mind. It is the only thing in the world we have complete control over. That's why GOD takes great interest of what goes on there, and judges what we allow to grow there - Genesis 6.5

It's the safe way...

Matthew 9.17 "Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

Luke 5.37-39 "And no man puts new wine into old wineskins; else the new wine will burst the skins, and itself be spilled, and the skins will perish.

"But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.

"And no man having drunk old wine desires the new; for he says, the old is better."

• no man puts new wine into old skins - neither does GOD
• we are guilty of trying to preserve the old "containers" afraid to put them aside and trusting the new vessel GOD may want to use
• if the old vessel does not qualify, then do not entrust new ideas, new wine into its care, as the stretching and maturing process may be too much for the old skin
• remember where the value is - it is the wine, not the container...
• some things long held by the old order must be released in order to preserve that which is of greater value
• why do we continue to try and save the old vessel?
• the new does not mix or integrate into old traditions
• Trust GOD when He chooses the younger generation to carry His anointing
  
• misguided selfishness always tries to hold on to old ways...

When Jesus Christ spoke of old containers and newly stored wine, he referred to the standard storage options of the time.

Taking fresh wine while it was still fermenting, and  placing it in an old vessel would ultimately destroy it.

Old containers became brittle and could crack with the gaseous liquid being introduced. They could only be used for old wine.

Obedience to God’s Spirit introduces a radical change of thinking –

• where love is to be extended to enemies,
• a total denial of self is required
• possessions given to the poor
• turn the other cheek

Few, Jesus taught, would find this new and narrow path - Matthew 7.14

Many just try to attach the new to the old traditions, the comfortable way of always doing things -

We are called to be flexible - as new wineskins are flexible to meet the needs of the fermenting new wine...

The Holy Spirit is the fermenting agent within the spirit of man...

Maturity takes place, and takes time

A mindset is crucial as the stretching, pressure and maturity takes place...

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