New Wine in New Wineskins

It is a pleasure to be here with you once again. As Roberto mentioned, we are in the Dallas area of Texas, where our church, Rossmon Christian Center, is located, and I also have a Bible study center there at 1304 Southampton Road, for those listening to us over the Internet. So we are located in Dallas, and for those who have known us for many years, let me tell you that we are grandparents now. We have a grandson, a two-month-old baby boy. His name is Amadeus Alejandro, the son of my eldest son, Manuel Alejandro, and we are happy.

So I would like to invite you to turn to the Word of the Lord. Let us go to the Gospel according to Saint Luke, chapter 5, and we will be reading verses 36 through 39. Let us find the passage in our Bibles, leave them open there, and I invite you to pray.

Father, we are—or continue—in Your presence, and at this hour, good God, we take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ Jesus, so that Your Word may do in our lives, O God, what needs to be done. We open our hearts to You, Lord, and ask You to speak to us according to our needs, Lord, and according to Your purposes for us, O God. We ask this of You in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.

Chapter 5, verse 36, reads as follows. Jesus is speaking: “...He also told them a parable: No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment, for if he does, not only will he tear the new one, but the patch taken from it will not match the old one. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be poured into new wineskins, and both are preserved. And no one who drinks the old wine immediately wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’...”

When Roberto invited me to preach today, on the evening when he took part, I told him, “I’ll give you an answer tomorrow.” And that night, as I was praying about this invitation and praying for the congregation, God spoke to me, and God said to me, “I want to bring new wine to My people. I want to bring—or I am bringing—new wine for My people.” That is why the theme I bring you this afternoon is new wine in new wineskins. New wine in new wineskins.

And in the passage we have just seen, if I go a little into the background and context of what is happening there, we find that certain scribes and Pharisees ask Jesus a trick question in order to catch Him at fault. They ask Jesus, “Why do John’s disciples—John the Baptist’s disciples—fast, and why do Yours not fast, Jesus?” In response to that question, Jesus answers them with the parable we have just read. And this is a parable containing two illustrations, two different illustrations used to convey the same principle. We are going to look at the broad or principal parts of the parable. We will not go digging for additional details beyond what the Bible itself tells us, but will look at the important, general points of the parable to see what God has for us this afternoon. And remember, I mentioned that it is the same principle illustrated twice. And in Hebrew thought—the Bible is written in Greek, but the Hebrew writers, within the Hebrew thought of the Jewish people, the people from whom the church began in the first century—repetition implies emphasis on God’s part. In other words, the answer Jesus was giving made clear who He was and what He was bringing in response to the question from the scribes and Pharisees.

And so we see that He is saying here that no one puts an old patch on a new garment. And if I were to take this blouse, which is fairly new, and take a piece—because by some accident it got stained or somehow torn—and I take a piece of cloth that my sister Milly gives me, and she says, “I have a little blouse over there that is already used, but it is black too; that will match,” and then I come and take that already old piece of cloth from that blouse and put it on the new blouse, what will happen? It does not match. It does not look right; even if it is the same color, it may already be worn out. But it is not only that. What else happens? The old patch will pull on—what? Or the new fabric will pull on the old patch, and the new blouse will tear, as will the piece of old material we used as a patch. Both things are ruined and are no longer good for anything.

So we must take care, because God wants to bring something new to our lives or to His people, to His congregation, and we must keep our minds open and prepared for the new thing God wants, while our hearts must also remain renewed in the Lord, so that what God pours out anew may enter a new wineskin. That is precisely the second illustration Jesus uses in answering the scribes and Pharisees.

He says that no one pours new wine into old wineskins, because when a wineskin is old, it has already stretched as far as it was going to stretch. Wineskins were usually made of cowhide, and a new wineskin is flexible so that it can keep stretching when the new wine is poured into it. But an old wineskin can no longer stretch. Therefore, new wine poured into an old wineskin begins to ferment and requires the wineskin to expand, but what will happen in an old wineskin is that the wineskin, or the leather vessel, bursts. It bursts, and both the wineskin and the new wine that was poured into it are lost.

So, with this principle, with these illustrations Jesus gives us, we want to encourage you to pay attention, to be prepared, and to have open hearts for the new thing God is bringing into this congregation. And when I say “the new thing God is bringing,” I am aware that I am speaking to an active congregation, a congregation that is constantly implementing programs for the church and the community, a congregation that we could say strives always to remain at the forefront, strives to respond to God, strives to walk in His purpose, and is walking in God’s purpose.

I am aware of the people to whom I am speaking. But what God wants to tell us—or the purpose of this message this afternoon—is that we may understand that we must remain expectant, continue preparing ourselves, and be ready for the new thing God has for this congregation, for the next step God has for this congregation.

When we speak of something new, it is something we have not seen before, isn’t it? If it is new, then logically we had not had it before. But this matter of something new from God is relative in terms of God’s dealings with our lives as individuals and God’s dealings with us as a church. In one church, a move of God that God brings as something new may be different from the move God has in this congregation, and what is new to some is something we already know. Or vice versa. The important thing is that we attain what is new from God for this people, and that, content and joyful with what has already been accomplished, we do not remain stuck there enjoying what we have already attained, but instead move forward toward what God has next, so that the new wine may enter new wineskins.

In the Scriptures, especially in the Old Testament, but also in the New Testament, we find this biblical image of wine that Jesus used here. We also find, for example, in the Gospel according to Saint John, the illustration Jesus gives us that He is the vine and we are the branches. In the Old Testament, we find references to the vine and to how God promises the people blessing, the fruit of the earth, abundance, and blessing. He promises it and says that they will have abundant wine, because that represents God’s blessing; it represents that the people have responded to God, and therefore God pours out even greater blessing.

New wine in new wineskins. New wine in new wineskins. And continuing with the matter of placing what we are discussing into our own context, we can say that, in the context in which Jesus spoke, what Jesus was bringing—when these scribes and Pharisees asked Him a question in order somehow to catch Him at fault or make Him fail in His answer—was new truths; it was a new covenant. And the new truths of Christianity could not be placed or put into old vessels, into old wineskins, because the very person of Jesus, that beautiful new covenant, was new wine from God arriving. And God’s new wine, in the times and at the moment when Jesus answered these Pharisees, did not fit the mindset of the Jewish people. It did not fit what they knew; it did not conform to what they knew. And many times in our own day, in our Christian lives, as individuals, as people, what we understand about where we are going in God and in the move of God does not conform to others, to the way other people—believers or unbelievers—see things. And many times the move of God, God’s next step, God’s plan, God’s purpose for this church may not fit the religious ideas found elsewhere. But the important thing is that, just as God has brought us this far, God is willing for us to move forward toward what comes next.

When God gives what comes next, He usually gives it to those who have been faithful. “You have been faithful over a little; I will put you in charge of much,” says the Lord, people. “You have been faithful over a little; I will put you in charge of much,” says the Lord. So those who have arrived more recently see all this movement and everything this church has accomplished, but this is little compared with everything that is coming. God has something new. God has progress ahead. God has extraordinary things, and although perhaps we cannot clearly define, describe, or give a name to what God has, I do know one thing: in God’s plans, in God’s plans, what God has is great, brothers and sisters.

If we have seen great things, what God has is even greater. So our minds and hearts must be even better prepared. It is not that we are not prepared; it is not that we are not open; it is not that we are unwilling—we are doing it. But God is warning us: “What is coming is greater; therefore, I still want new wineskins, new wineskins.” And sometimes, when our wineskins begin to grow old, we have to refresh our inner being in order to open our minds, because sometimes we have grown comfortable with what God is doing, with the way we work, with what we have accomplished up to the present. And even those of us who are at the forefront must also be warned by God: “What I am bringing is greater. Prepare yourself, people, for what is coming.”

Our minds must be sufficiently elastic to contain new ideas in the Lord. The foundation is the same one found in the Word of God; the foundation does not change. But God shows that He has new things, and we cannot entrench and shut ourselves in because of what we already know, because of what we have already experienced, and remain there. We have to open our minds, and our hearts must be sufficiently elastic; they must stretch to receive the fresh, new blessing God has for us.

The new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And when this happens, both one and the other are preserved; nothing is lost. But He also said in these verses—verse 39 says:

“...and no one who drinks the old wine immediately wants the new, for he says that the old is better...”

And then you will say to me, “So which is it? The new or the old?” I mentioned that we were going to look at this parable in its principal parts, and one of the things this verse says is that the old wine is better. But the old wine is better in a relative sense—and I am going to look over this way, because in the earlier service, I don’t know why, I looked over this way—in case there is someone who can help me with this matter of wine. But they say that old wine really is the best. That is in natural terms, isn’t it? But in terms of biblical truths, what the passage is saying is that the new is better. Therefore, we must be prepared so that it may enter new wineskins, be preserved, yield fruit, and bless many lives.

The new wine is better; the wine is better, and it is this kind of wine that God wants to pour out in even greater measure upon this church. Sometimes we are very slow to accept what is new because we resist change. We grow accustomed to certain patterns, to a way of doing things, and we entrench ourselves and remain there. And over on this side, in God’s next step, God has something different, with a different pattern where I can move differently, but I remain here because this is what I learned, this is how the church has moved until now, and it has worked for us; therefore, why not continue with the same pattern? Okay, some patterns will be preserved. But if God brings something new and different patterns, different programs, and different ways of working need to be established, let us do it, because what matters is that when that blessing flows, it arrives, fits, and has room to be poured out.

The new wine in new wineskins. In the New Testament we find that God spoke—He had spoken in the Old Testament about a new covenant—and in the New Testament we find how that new covenant is fulfilled. We find, for example, that in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit would dwell only temporarily; He would come and fall upon the person who had a ministry—upon kings, prophets, and priests—to perform a function at that moment, to minister at that moment, and then He would leave. But in the new covenant, in that new wine that Jesus brought, we find the Holy Spirit dwelling in our lives, dwelling in our hearts. God has already given new wine. That wine began with the presence of Jesus, with the presence of Jesus in this world. That wine began with the sacrifice of Jesus; we began to drink of the blessing of salvation.

But God also desires to continue blessing us, and that Holy Spirit who dwells within us desires to lead us day by day so that we may fulfill His purposes, attain the new things He has for us, and succeed in making God’s plans for our lives and God’s plans for this church a reality. God desires to give a fresh harvest.

And when I speak of a harvest, people usually think of harvest only in the sense of souls being won. That comes first: souls being saved—that comes first. But when I speak of a harvest, I mean every blessing God wants to bring in any area of work in which the church becomes involved. God desires to give a new harvest. Without the new harvest of grapes from the vine, there is no wine. If the plant does not produce, there is no wine. The result is the wine, but there is a process in which the plant must bear fruit. We have to bear fruit, or we must continue bearing fruit, by remaining attached to the vine as the branches that we are. Ultimately, we will find that remaining attached, being united with the Lord, will lead us to enjoy that new wine—the result of that union—that new wine God desires constantly to pour out upon us.

How can we attain the new things God has for us? I mentioned remaining attached to the vine. I want to mention that we must deny ourselves, work, and walk in obedience. Luke 9:23 says:

“... If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me....”

We have to deny ourselves; selfishness must be set aside. Sometimes we are selfish even without realizing it, and the Holy Spirit has to make us aware of it. Sometimes we believe that because things have been done a certain way, we have to continue doing them the same way because I like the way they are done. And we have to set selfishness aside because the new thing God brings must be accommodated with enough room to overflow, to be poured out.

When we are selfish, each of us thinks in our own favor and says, “No, but if I think it should be done this way in the church, it is for the good of the brothers and sisters.” Well, the intention is for the good of the brothers and sisters, for the good of the church, but inwardly, perhaps the root of wanting things to remain entrenched there in that pattern has to do with the fact that I like it that way, do not want change, and do not want to experience an openness to what God wants to bring. We need to stop being selfish so that we can be a greater blessing to God’s people and to those around us.

We also said, “Take up your cross daily.” God’s dealings with us take place every day. And we have to take up the cross; we have to exert ourselves, even to the point of weariness, in the work—in becoming involved in the work, in the Lord, in the work of the church, in our individual lives, and in our commitment to the Lord. We have to take up our cross day by day, and when we take up the cross day by day, we will see the glory of God. When, day by day, we advance toward that purpose, toward the new thing God brings, we will have victory day by day, but we have to be willing to sacrifice and work.

Sometimes, even in large churches where there are many people to help, plenty of human resources to help, it is always the same people who do the work. That does not happen here—I do not know, I am far away; I hope it does not happen here—and it is the same people who respond when people are called to work, whether they have been in the church for a short time, arrived later or earlier, have been there for a few years, or have not; whenever the call to work goes out, it is always the same people who respond. And do you know what? God is going to pour out His new wine, but there is a part that belongs to each one of us. We have to take up our cross day by day. It is not merely a few who have to take up the cross—in this case, I am speaking in terms of service to the Lord. As each one of us becomes involved in the different areas, we will make it possible for the new thing God has for us to become a reality.

The new thing God brings comes at a cost. And when I say that it comes at a cost, I mean in terms of the part that we are responsible for doing, because what God does is by grace, because He desires to bless us, and because He has purposes among us. But it costs us in the sense that there is a part for which the believer is responsible. God is always willing to bless; God is always willing to pour out His presence; God is always willing to lead us forward to the next step. But we need to do the part that belongs to us, and then we will attain the new thing from God; then we will attain the next thing God has designed in His plan.

We also said, “Follow Me.” And “follow Me” implies obedience. We have to remain united to the vine, staying very close to the Lord, and follow in His footsteps. I was saying this morning that on one occasion in my country, Puerto Rico, I was walking along a road when a car came. It was a one-lane road, and I had to step onto the pavement, onto the sidewalk, while the car passed. Then I positioned myself and realized that this was why I had been walking on the road: it was very narrow, very narrow. So I began to walk, and I had to walk like this—like this; look at my great big feet—walking like this so that I could stay on course and move forward. And we have to walk in such a way that we remain there, attentive, so that when the road becomes narrow, it does not matter that the road is narrow: I move forward toward God’s blessing. It does not matter that the road is narrow: I follow Him. It says, “And follow Me.” We have to be willing to follow Him.

How easy it is to follow Him when everything sounds harmonious, when everything is joyful, when everything is happiness. How easy it is to follow Him. But the Lord expects us to take up our cross and follow Him every day, whether there is abundance or scarcity, whether there is joy or sorrow, whether the road is wide and comfortable or whether the road is narrow, confined, and difficult to walk. We have to follow Him in obedience, and in this way we will attain what God has for us.

What else must we do? We have to align our expectations with God’s expectations. The Jewish people had the blessing of the Kingdom of God breaking in as something new through Jesus, but what happened? The Jewish people’s expectation was of a king who would arrive with all pomp and glory. The expectation the Jewish people had was of a king in the sense of political government, of an earthly kingdom. But what God had was a heavenly kingdom breaking into the earth, which broke in through the person of Jesus. The expectations the Jewish people had did not fit the reality of God’s new work.

We are often mistaken in our expectations. Sometimes, for example, God tells us, “My servant, I am going to use you in this or that.” He gives us a specific word, and we become so excited about that word and rejoice, and then we begin to imagine things: God is going to do this and that, and the ministry, and this and that and the other. And sometimes we do not even pay specific attention to the details of what God is telling us because we begin to dream big, and there is nothing wrong with dreaming. But we have to dream according to what God has declared. When we dream of a scenario different from what God has said, frustration comes because we find that what God was supposedly telling us is not being fulfilled. It is not that it was not fulfilled; it is that my expectations were wrong. God said A, and I believed it was B, and I began waiting for A, but it never came because what came was B, and I neither recognized nor identified it—just as happened to the Jewish people with the King of kings, with the Lord of lords, when He broke into this world with His kingdom to bring us blessing and eternal life.

What God is going to do is new in relation to our experience, but His plans were already determined. In His foreknowledge, God knows everything. From the perspective of our relationship as the human beings we are, and our relationship with the Lord, what God is going to do is new to us, but God already knows everything. His plan, as the architect—the best architect we have—is already designed, and sometimes He allows us to see up to a certain point. Sometimes He allows us to see a little farther, and sometimes the final goal is even greater, and He allows us to see barely a glimpse of that final goal. Sometimes He shows it to us little by little. Whether we identify God’s plan fully and with certainty or not, whether we simply see dimly as in mirrors, we still have to walk toward God’s purpose, seeking to advance and advance toward the new thing God has for us.

For that purpose, in addition to aligning our expectations correctly, we also have to renew our minds. Romans chapter 12, verse 2, tells us not to be conformed to this age but to be renewed through our understanding; it speaks to us about the mind. And in the context of Romans chapter 12, it is speaking about worshiping the Lord, about our surrender, and about our service—about presenting ourselves to the Lord as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. But that same principle of not conforming to the world—in this case, it says not to be conformed to this age, referring to the world and the principles of this world, but rather that we must live in holiness—I want us today to apply that same principle to not conforming to those patterns in which we become entrenched, without a mind elastic enough to stretch and expand so as to enter into God’s new work and allow His Spirit to be poured out—as I have said, and intentionally repeat—and allow His Spirit to be poured out and God to move with the new thing He brings in complete freedom. We have to renew our minds; we have to renew our ideas and concepts in such a way that God’s new thing can be accommodated in a new wineskin. We also have to be open to the Holy Spirit.

If the new covenant and the new thing God brought began with that Holy Spirit being placed within us—very different from the old way, from the old covenant, in which the Holy Spirit would simply come and minister through a person and then leave—if it began that way, if our salvation began that way, if our walk in the Lord began with the presence of the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit has not left, nor will He leave our innermost being. Rather, He desires to lead us to the next step God has for us.

The new wine desires to be poured out; God desires to pour it into our hearts through the work of His Holy Spirit. There is no harvest; there can be no harvest. I know that you know this—I know it—there can be no harvest if there is no moving of the Holy Spirit. There can be no new harvest, new fruit, or new wine unless the moving of the Holy Spirit continues to advance. And by this I am not saying that there is no moving of the Holy Spirit here. I am speaking of the next thing—I emphasize it again—that God will bring, that God has for this people.

What else can we say this afternoon? The results of pouring new wine into new wineskins are that we allow the new thing to come and become visible in us, and as it becomes visible, it blesses others. Among the results of new wine being poured into new wineskins, we can mention, first, that what you have from God—that exceedingly great blessing—flows; you cannot contain it, and you spread it to others. It becomes visible by impacting other lives. As a result of the new wine being poured into new wineskins, we will live victorious and fruitful lives.

And living victorious and fruitful lives does not mean that we will not go through difficult circumstances. But in the midst of those circumstances, we are victorious. In the midst of those circumstances, that new wine which has been deposited within us, in these new wineskins, flows, and the Holy Spirit strengthens us to overcome each day.

The Scriptures say in Isaiah 43, “... Behold, I am doing a new thing; soon it will spring forth. Will you not know it? Once again I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert....”

When there is new wine in our hearts, even the wilderness blossoms; even in the wilderness there is abundant water, because God’s wine is within us. God makes the impossible possible. We reach other lives for the Lord; our walk, our movement—everything we do—blesses others. But when we allow that new wine to be poured into new wineskins, we also find that the Holy Spirit is poured out in such a way that even greater wonders and signs occur in our lives, through us, and among us.

In the Scriptures we were promised that many things and signs would occur among those of us who followed the Lord: they would cast out demons, speak in new tongues, pick up snakes in their hands, and nothing would harm us—different signs that God wants to perform in confirmation of the word preached. It is not that the word is insufficient in itself, but those who do not believe because of the word will believe because of the works. And not only that: the works God does—miracles, healings, and wonders—God does them because he is a God of mercy. And when we have that new wine of God within us, it must flow out to extend mercy to other lives.

Many years ago, when I was pregnant, I got a kidney stone. That pain was worse than labor; I had already given birth before, so I knew what that was like. It was horrible pain. I had already had the condition for three or four days, and one day I was sitting on the balcony of my house. I had prayed, “Lord, take this away from me—what am I supposed to do?” And there on the balcony of my house, I said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I am going to ask you to heal me because of your love and your mercy, because this pain is too severe.” I went to the Lord saying, “I know that you are a God of love; I know that you are a God of mercy.” In other words, maybe I did not have a surge of faith to claim healing right then, but because you are who you are, please heal me. I went to the bathroom, and the stone came out immediately.

New wine—God wants to pour it out so that things like this may happen in our lives and happen within us, and also to bless others. But as part of what healing entails, I also want to tell you another testimony. This morning, a sister named Matsie was with us, and the last time I came, a few months ago, I was staying with my sister Milagros, and she was also there. I met her for the first time; I knew nothing about her. We were praying, and as I was praying for her, God led me to place my hands over her heart. When I declared healing, a word of healing over her heart, I did not know anything, nor was I making anything up; I was doing what God was directing me to do. And it turns out that now, when I returned, she told me that she had had a heart condition. When God led me to pray, she knew it was the Lord because I did not know about her condition. When she returned, I believe it was to her country, a few months later, she went to the doctor, and the doctor told her, “You are healed; there is nothing wrong with you.”

Signs and wonders, because the new wine is in our lives and the new wine wants to be poured out in our midst. But there are also other signs that perhaps we do not like very much, yet I want to mention them for some reason. I do not know why the Lord wants me to mention them, but I have to mention them.

When all these things are happening—these blessings, this advance of God, these things that God does, as occurred in the church in its early days—things that may surprise us can also happen. In the early days of the church, while the church was spreading and there was blessing and joy, while they were singing hymns to the Lord, preaching the word, and seeing signs and wonders, the brothers and sisters began to meet one another’s needs. On one occasion, a couple named Ananias and Sapphira decided to sell a property they owned and lay the proceeds at the disciples’ feet to help those in need, but they did not come to an agreement. The two of them did not agree between themselves, “We are going to sell it for this much.” But it turns out that later, when they sold it and went to take the offering to the apostles, they decided to keep a portion for themselves. They could have kept a portion and said, “Look, Peter, originally we were going to sell it for ten, and we sold it for ten, and we wanted to give all ten, but we have a need, so we are going to give you eight.” They could have done that, but they lied to the Holy Spirit of God, and the man fell down dead. And when the woman came—for one went in first and the other afterward—Peter then confirmed that she too had lied, and she fell down dead.

I am not trying to frighten anyone with this, but I want to say something: in this move of God, even when people may come wanting to do harm—I am not saying that they will come; notice, come; I am not talking about here—whatever God may do, I do not wish harm upon anyone. But when God finishes pouring out upon you the blessing he has for you and the enemy tries to slip in to cause harm, God does as he sees fit.

Just a warning to stay alert for what is coming. On another occasion, in the Old Testament, we find that Korah, together with other members of his household and followers, was serving God, just as Moses and Aaron were. He had a certain task in the Lord in terms of serving God, though not the same as that of Moses and Aaron. It seems that jealousy crept in, or something happened to him, his household, and a group there. And what happened? They began to grumble against Aaron and Moses, and the grumbling reached such a degree that Moses presented them all before God and said to them, “Gather in such-and-such a place, and here we will see who is serving the Lord,” in other words. And what happened? Scripture says that something new occurred. The earth opened and swallowed Korah’s people and those who followed him.

Again I say, that is not happening here. What I want to tell you with this illustration is that, in this advance of God, whenever obstacles try to come from outside, whatever their nature may be, God will see to doing whatever he has to do, but God’s advance will continue. So, church, do not be surprised. Church, do not be surprised by the miracles God performs, whether of one kind or another.

The new thing of God must advance in this place and must not be stopped, says the Lord. The new thing of God must advance and must not be stopped. Willing to keep our wineskins new, we must resolve to keep our wineskins—our minds and our hearts—new and fresh for everything God has.

Let us seek to attain that new wine God has for us. Please stand.

We worship you, Lord; we worship you, God. Blessed are you, Lord; blessed are you, O God. Let us lift up a prayer to the Lord while the melody plays in the background.

First, let us pray to the Lord, presenting ourselves individually, all that we are. And if you have recognized that at some point in your life you closed your mind to what God wants for you, tell him, “Lord, here I am. I want my mind and my heart to be flexible for what you want to do. And I want to move forward into what you have for me.” Then we will pray as a church, as a congregation:

Father, at this hour we present ourselves before your presence—or continue in your presence, Lord—and we say to you, O God, and even ask your forgiveness, Lord, for having closed our minds and hearts to what you have for us, to the advance, to the next thing you have for us, for my life, Lord. At this hour I tell you, Lord, I want to move forward. I open my mind; I open my heart to you. Do with me as you please, but I want to move forward in your purposes, Lord.

And now, Lord, we present ourselves before you as one people, and we tell you, Lord, we want to move forward into what you have for us. We want to move forward into that new step, into what comes next. We want to break free from any pattern—if there is one—in which we have boxed and entrenched ourselves, and we tell you that we want to move into the pattern you bring, which accommodates the new. As a church, we want to be a new wineskin for everything you have, Lord, because you said that you desire—or that you are bringing—new wine upon this people, Lord. Here we are, Lord. Here we are, O God.

Please let us sing a song, and while the melody is playing, we are going to pray for those who are sick. Please, let us follow the instructions: only those who are sick—anyone who needs prayer for healing—we are going to minister to you. The leaders, or those who usually minister, I want you to pray with me, not merely stand there accompanying me, but pray with me and help me in prayer. While the music is playing, those who need prayer may come forward.