Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

 “No one cuts up a fine silk scarf to patch old work clothes; you want fabrics that match. And you don’t put wine in old, cracked bottles; you get strong, clean bottles for your fresh vintage wine. And no one who has ever tasted fine aged wine prefers unaged wine.” (Luke 5:36-39 The Message)

The gifts we are given is not for us to hoard and then boast about them to our neighbours. They are given to us so that we can advance the kingdom of God in our generation. Nature tells us that we live in a world that is dictated by times and seasons, therefore we must recognise the season we are in and operate in it accordingly. This is exemplified in our text today. New wine must be placed in New containers so that it is not spoiled nor contaminated. For us to understand this pithy saying we must start to think outside of the box. Jesus is telling us here that when a new move of God occurs it cannot be contained in the strictures of the ‘old’ ways. This does not mean religion is not important, what it does mean is that if we are contained and confined by religion which has its genesis in ‘relic’ which means something old, we rely on rites and rituals to sustain our spirituality.

On the other hand when we supersede religion with relationship with God [via salvation], we begin to get the freshness of what God is doing in our generation and season of life. So for us today the new wine is the new move of God in our generation. The new wineskins or bottles are the new models of being kingdom people that God is establishing now! Let’s put it another way. We generally think that we express our Christianity in church and that when we are in the market place we jettison our faith and operate like our peers. What Jesus is saying in this passage is that our relationship with God the father dictates that we not only worship in church by submitting to him, but what ever gift or talent we have, we use it to God’s glory. So if we are a banker we act with integrity, honesty and even-handedness thus displaying kingdom principles to those we report to and to those who report to us.

This is what Daniel did when he was taken captive in Babylon. He purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s meat and lived on pulses and vegetables and was found to be ten times better than his peers in understanding and looked better than them on vegetable and water alone (Daniel 1:8, 20). That was a new way to do things.

Today God is calling you to operate where he has placed you. If you are in advertising be the best you can but do not compromise the word of God. If you are in the media let people know upfront what you stand for and in whom you believe so that you do not compromise the word of God. This is why we all need to get a contextual understanding of the word so that we can rightly divide it for our time and season.

Read Daniel 1 and Genesis 45 and prepare yourself for greatness.