Revamping Old Wineskins

CBN.com - For the past couple of days, I have been thinking about those "new wineskins" that Jesus talked about in Luke 5. He said that new wine will burst old wineskins, thus the new wine will be lost.

I believe with all my heart we are living in those days from the book of Joel: "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh...." The explosion of revival around the world is breathtaking. Yet, in America there seems to be resistance. It is this wineskin thing. We seem to want God to do marvelous things among us, but we want to limit Him in what He can do and how He can do it. We want to put His new wine in our old cracked and dry methodology.

Indeed, some would even leave their churches before they would allow God to move there in the way He chooses.

I mentioned The Dream Center in Los Angeles. Two old wineskins there have been totally revamped into new bottles of refreshing: the City of Angels Hospital and famed Angelus Temple. The two facilities are within walking distance of each other.

The Assemblies of God and Foursquare denominations have linked arms to touch Los Angeles. As a result, thousands of lives are being transformed. The people who live there are swarming into this new ministry.

No, the message has not changed. God is the same; He will not and cannot change. But the wineskin that holds the message is radically different now. The new wine is being poured out upon all flesh. Those who insist upon old wineskins do God no favors.

Used with permission by author, Dan Betzer. Previously published on ByLine OnLine, copyright © 2005 Media Ministries of the Assemblies of God.