Use the links (ctrl+click) on the scriptures to access the bible verses.
A spinoff of Jesus’ first parable is the parable of New Wine in Old Wineskins (Matthew 9:17).
Natural reasoning would suggest that it is cost-effective to refill an empty vessel with new substance; spiritual wisdom calls for a replacement of the vessel also!
Jesus explains that new wine would react with the old wineskin and eventually destroy it; He suggests that new wine be stored in new wineskins or vessels in order to preserve both!
Does this sound familiar to students of the Bible? Does this point to why we have to be born again to enter His kingdom? Does it support the notion that we all need new hearts to be able to please God? Was King David ‘spot on’ when he asked God to create a new heart in him, before a right spirit could be renewed within him (Psalms 51:10)? Is this why Jesus rhetorically advised us to cut off whatever appendage that causes us to sin; our eyes, our ears (Matthew 18:8-9)? Was He trying to communicate the futility of patching our frail selves and hoping to continue on life’s journey? I think Jesus was telling us to drop everything old, and start anew with Him.
Is this why there is therefore now no condemnation for those who walk anew in the spirit with God, why old things have passed away and all things have become new (Romans 8:1)?  
I think the answer to all these questions is the same: YES!! Jesus says it is folly not to change our hearts before we ask for a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, put your new wine in new vessels, and live anew!!

Lesson of the Week

1. Receive God’s mercy and renewal gracefully (Lamentations 3:22-24).
2. Let His kingdom be established in you through holy living, peace with your fellow man, and in explicable joy in your heart (Romans 14:17).
The only way back to God is a complete rejection of our old ways of life, acceptance of the mercy He so freely offers, and submission to His guiding hand and tenets!
To ensure we are not likened to ‘new wine in old wineskins’, we must change thoroughly from within. We must truly become the temple of the living God; otherwise His Holy Spirit cannot reside in us.
We have to find the resolve to live holy, to seek peace and shun trouble; only in these states can we truly experience His joy, which is our strength.
Let us become like new wine in new wineskins! Let us start anew. He has promised that if we confess genuinely and earnestly seek His leadership in our lives, old things will pass on, and we shall become like new (2 Cor 5:17). Make that fresh start today; Jesus is still interceding on our behalf before our Father in Heaven. He is faithful that has promised, and if He is for us, no one can be against us (Romans 8:31). Blessings to you, and stand strong!

Weekly Nugget: “Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Matthew 9:17).

Dr. Kene D. Ewulu ministers from Columbia, South Carolina, The United States.
All scriptures were linked from www.biblegateway.com

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Use the links (ctrl+click) on the scriptures to access the bible verses.
Our new series focuses on the Parables of Our Lord Jesus Christ! And we begin with the Parable of the New Cloth Patch On Old Cloth as told in Matthew 9:16.
Jesus identifies the folly in using new cloth to patch old cloth, indicating that the new will exacerbate the old, and the problem in the old cloth (the torn part of the cloth) would get worse.
Jesus talks about our old habits or way of life, and the futility of mixing them up with new habits or way of life.
Are you trying to fix the old, instead of replacing it completely? Are you trying to ‘run with the hare and the hounds’? Are you trying to ‘eat your cake and have it at the same time’? Are you trying to serve both God and the spirit of money’? Are you trying to live right and retain some pleasurable old habits?
The bible advises us to completely remove the cause of our stumbling; to cut it off (Mark 9:43).
Do not try to patch things up; it is better to discard our old cloth, and replace with the new.
We are to request the complete replacement of our heart of stone with a new heart – a heart of flesh, made of love, compassion, and empathy for our fellow man.
God alone can make this happen; ask Jesus for a makeover today; do not ask for a patch!

Lesson of the Week

1. Ask Jesus today to take away the old sinful self, and usher in the new (2 Cor. 5:17).
2. As you live anew in holiness, and do not yearn for your way of old life, or you will miss the blessings reserved for those who live holy (Luke 9:62).
Old habits are like temptations; they chip away at your resolve until you finally cave in!
We cannot successfully live our new lives with Christ if we cling to our old habits, haunts, and practices. We have to break completely with the old in order to fully embrace and benefit from the new.
Flee all signs of temptations, or practices that have caused you to fall in times past (2 Tim 2:22).
Ask God to clothe you with new clothing – His Armor, so you can withstand all the devil’s temptations and attacks, and stand resolute for God and His Christ (Ephesians 6:11-18).
Make a fresh start this week, forget the past, and watch your Lord Jesus take you on an exhilarating journey of righteousness, peace, and joy. Blessings to you and yours, and stay the course!

Weekly Nugget: “No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse” (Matthew 9:16; KJV).

Dr. Kene D. Ewulu ministers from Columbia, South Carolina, The United States.
All scriptures were linked from www.biblegateway.com

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