Greetings Flag Branch members and friends and thanks for taking the time to join me, Pastor Jordan, for some Fine Points from Sunday’s service and message “New Wine Into New Wineskins”. 

Jesus’s message and ministry was unlike anything the Jewish people had encountered.  The gospel is recorded as saying the people said they had never seen anything like Him or His ministry (Mark 2:12). 

When asked why His disciples didn’t behave like other disciples, Jesus replied that in essence saying His ministry would not fit in with what is established.  He was bringing something that took the worship of God to a place the current cultic and those rigidly committed to it could not accommodate.  Thus the phase “new wine into new wineskins” is how Jesus described His teaching and ministry. 

Coming out of this pandemic, some serious deficiencies in the church’s mode of operation and ministry was exposed.  The world is moving on while the church is still in the building centric inward-looking, isolated, nonengaging, nontechnical, attempting to maintain type of mindset and operation. 

The world is offering the people we are called to make disciples of a wealth of ideas intended to give them an alternative to the gospel and marginalize the influence and reach of the church.  The methods, ministries and ways of doing things that were able to sustain and grow the church and have an impact on society and culture in the past is proving ineffective on the audience in the world we face today. 

This is a type of “old wine” and anyone who is rigidly committed to this “old wine”, Jesus referred to as “old wineskins”.  The truth is the church is in need of “new wine” and “new wineskins”.  New wine are all the “changes” that are needed to compete in the “marketplace of ideas” the church now finds itself in. 

This includes such things as adjusting the message, targeting the message, communicating the message and relaying the message to the people in the world who God has sent us to disciple.  It includes engaging and encountering people with invitations to take a fresh look at the gospel of Jesus Christ.  And it includes an adjustment in our own attitudes about living and enjoying life to its fullest while being a Christian and disciple of Christ. 

“New wine” requires new wineskins.  We are those wineskins if we embrace this new and challenging paradigm God is calling us to in the wake of this pandemic.  It’s good for us to get back together after being apart for so long.  We see the challenges before us.  Let us rise and meet this challenge with new wine in new wineskins. 

You can hear the complete sermon by clicking the sermon title above.  You can also see and listen to our latest Sunday School, Missions and BTU sessions by clicking this link.  Be sure to download our mobile app on your phones and mobile devices to get the latest news, updates and shortcuts to all of our ministries, functions and activities. 

Click the SS Daily Bible Readings for an excellent devotional and preparation for the upcoming Sunday School lesson.  Don’t forget to leave a comment or question down below.  As always, remember to fear God and keep His commandments.

Pastor Jordan

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