Over the last two weeks, we've been on a journey of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives.

-Week 1: We began with Fresh Oil, learning that:
God never intended us to live on yesterday's strength or our own ability.
Before He ever sends us, He fills us.
Before He asks us to do something for Him, He desires to do something in us.
—Fresh Oil is God’s Annointing—

-Week 2: We stepped into Holy Fire. We learned that:
The Holy Spirit doesn't simply fill us—He ignites us.
His fire exposes what doesn't belong.
It burns away what cannot go where God is taking us, and
It rekindles what has grown cold.
—Holy Fire is God’s Purification—

And that brings us to today. Once the oil has filled us and the fire has refined us, God is ready to pour something new.

Can we hold what He wants to pour?

So today we're asking a different question:
Week 1 asked, "Am I relying on my own strength or the Spirit's anointing?"
Week 2 asked, "What in me needs the fire of God?"
Today we ask, "Am I willing to become the kind of person who can carry the new thing God wants to do?”

History:
In Jesus' day, people didn't have glass bottles or stainless steel tanks to aid in the fermentation process like today's wine. They stored new wine in specially prepared leather wineskins, usually made from goat hide.
When the skin was new, it was soft and flexible. As the grape juice fermented, gases built up inside the wineskin, causing it to expand.
A new wineskin could stretch with that pressure, but an old one had become dry and brittle. If fresh wine was poured into it, the pressure would cause it to split, ruining both the wineskin and the wine.

So… After years… It hardened. It became brittle.
Still useful… Just incapable of stretching.

BIG IDEA:
God isn't looking for perfect people. He's looking for pliable people.

1 - GOD PREPARES THE VESSEL BEFORE HE POURS THE WINE

Genesis 7-8 | Noah built before rain. Waited sealed in the Ark for 1 year (no record if God spoke a word in that season)
Genesis 12-21 | Abraham waited before Isaac.
Genesis 39-41 | Joseph endured before promotion.
Exodus - Deuteronomy | Moses - 2 spans of 40 years
1Sam 16 - 2Sam 2 | David was anointed years before becoming king.
400 years of silence between Malachi and Matthew
Luke 2 | Simeon and Anna waited decades, praying and fasting, to simply see the promised Messiah.
Acts 1-2 | The disciples waited before Pentecost.

2 - NEW WINE REQUIRES A NEW MIND

Transformation begins in your thinking.

Even the very faith you claim in Jesus requires NEW THINKING!
-You have to believe that what Jesus has done holds more weight than anything you have ever done!
It requires a transformed mind! That’s why Israel spent the extra 40 years in the wilderness.
-They were no longer in Egypt… but Egypt was still in them.

Many believers want God to change their circumstances.
-God wants to change their perspective.

Sometimes our biggest limitation isn't opportunity.
-It's imagination.
-We've become convinced God can only move one way.

Questions
Where have I become rigid?
Where have I assumed, "This is just who I am."
Where have I stopped expecting God to surprise me?

3 - GOD STRETCHES US WITHOUT BREAKING US
This is the beauty of the new wineskin.
-Stretching is uncomfortable. But it isn't punishment.
-Growth always stretches.
-Marriage stretches.
-Children stretches.
-Leadership stretches.
-Forgiveness stretches.
-Faith stretches.
The Holy Spirit constantly invites us beyond our comfort zone.

Maybe the tension you've been feeling isn't because God has abandoned you.
-Maybe He's enlarging you.

What does James say about the trial? Count it all joy!
And what do trials produce?? Maturity!

Maybe embrace the tension rather than complain about it! The Holy Spirit is desiring you to be shaped for something greater!

4 - DON’T FALL IN LOVE WITH THE OLD WINESKIN
The Pharisees loved the familiar.
Jesus was standing in front of them. Yet they preferred what they already understood. Luke even records Jesus saying, "But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. The old is just fine, they say.”

How true that still is.
-People naturally prefer familiar over faithful.
-Comfort over calling.
-Tradition over transformation.

5 - GOD’S NEW WINE ALWAYS DEMANDS SURRENDER
I know I have pointed at this the last few weeks, but I can’t stress it enough!!
Surrender IS KEY!

This isn't really about wine.
-It's about willingness.
-Can God interrupt your plans?
-Can He change your direction?
-Can He ask you to forgive?
-Can He call you somewhere uncomfortable?
-Can He do something in our church that doesn't look like last year?

The issue isn't whether God is doing something new.
-The issue is whether we're willing to become new enough to receive it.
-Can we stretch?
-Can the new juice of the word become the wine of the word?
-Can it mature in you?

Application:
The greatest new thing God ever did…

Wasn't Pentecost… though the outpouring of His Spirit is a gift of all gifts!
It wasn't miracles… this is simply a byproduct of His nature!
It wasn't signs… these simply declare his glory!
It was making dead people alive.

2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT
“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

Before God ever gives new assignments… He gives new identity.
Everything else flows from that.

Closing:

The Holy Spirit has been doing something in us for three weeks.

-Fresh Oil… He fills us.
-Before Purpose, there is presence.

-Holy Fire… He purifies us.
-He loves us too much to leave us unchanged.

-New Wine… He stretches us.
-Notice the progression.

God has not been changing our circumstances. He's been changing us. WHY??
Because transformed people change the world.