New Wineskins for Sale

In one paragraph

Tribe's eighth birthday service landed on Luke 5:33-39, the passage about new wine and old wineskins. Brian used that text as a lens for looking back at what the Lord has been doing with the Tribe fam over the past few years, and what it has cost to receive it. The setup was simple: everyone wants new wine, but almost nobody wants to build a new wineskin to hold it. Brian pointed out that Jesus...

Read together

1. Luke 5:33-39 read aloud as the main text for the sermon, about new wine and wineskins
2. Matthew 25 parable of the ten virgins, five wise and five foolish, buying oil for their lamps
3. Matthew 24 Jesus says at the end, used to support post-tribulation rapture position
4. Hebrews 10:25 do not forsake the gathering of the saints, used to affirm in-person fellowship
5. Ecclesiastes for everything there is a season, quoted as closing thought on old and new wine
6. Song of Songs with one glance of your eye you have ravished my heart, used to describe God's response when we turn toward him
7. Psalms my heart has heard you say come and spend time with me and my heart replies Lord I am coming

What was said

• Talk to the Holy Spirit first thing in the morning, even if it is just a simple good morning before you get out of bed.
• When you sense a small nudge or inclination during your day, pause and ask whether it is the Holy Spirit speaking, then take one small step of obedience in response.
• Invite the Holy Spirit into a room of your heart you have been keeping closed, and sit quietly long enough to listen for what he might say.
• If you have a personal prayer language, set aside time this week to pray in it until your English words run out and let your spirit keep going.
• Read the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25 and ask yourself honestly whether you are buying your own oil or coasting on someone else's.

Talk about it

1. Brian talked about COVID as a moment when the Lord released new wine, but said most churches scrambled to get back to the way things were instead of constructing new wineskins. Where do you see that same pull in your own life, the desire for the new wine without the new wineskin?
2. Several people shared how they cultivate a relationship with the Holy Spirit, through constant conversation, inviting him in, listening for small nudges, and obeying them. What does that look like practically in your own daily life, and where does it break down?
3. Brian said oil cannot be shared, that you cannot burn your lamp off someone else's oil, and that the pressing and crushing is actually what purchases it. How does that change the way you think about hard seasons you are in right now or have been through?
4. The five foolish virgins were told to go buy their own oil, and Brian said there will come a day when it is too late to buy it. How seriously do you take that, and what does it actually change about how you are living?
5. Brian closed by saying the Lord is promising clarity in complexity for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. Where in your life right now are you most desperate for that clarity, and what might be keeping you from receiving it?