Hi and welcome to the We Are Zion Sermon podcast.
We are a local church based here in Chennai, India.
We are so glad you are with us and hope that this will
encourage, inspire and instill fresh faith in you.
We have started a series called The Kingdom Life based on the
life and teachings of Jesus from the Gospel according to Mark.
We look at how we must live our lives on this earth as followers
of Jesus in a way that is countercultural yet powerfully
impactful. As you listen in, our hope is
that you will be motivated to live, love, lead, and serve just
like Jesus. Hi Church.
Even as we continue meditating on God's Word, we go into the
second part of the series called The Kingdom Life.
Even last week as we saw the Kingdom life, we see from the
book of Mark as we emphasize and see from the life of Jesus, we
see how Jesus lived right here on this earth and how He lived
that Kingdom life. And what can we also take from
his teachings, take from his life and live that out?
Last week He saw a couple of things which are very important,
which I just wanted to go through some of those points
because I believe they matter. The first thing we saw is our
motives matter if you want to do good.
The second thing we saw surrender matters if you want
the blessing. Third, we saw as Jesus was
feeding the 5000 breaking matters if he want the
breakthrough. And the last is our sensitivity.
Our spiritual sensitivity matters if we want to know God
more today, even as we look, continue on to look from Mark in
the book of Mark. I'm going to take this entire
passage right from Mark chapter 2 when God calls Matthew and
some of the translations, it says Levi, but Matthew is again
the tax collector. He's the one who's written the
book, the Gospel according to Matthew, and he was a tax
collector. And Jesus says, come and, you
know, follow me. And even as he makes that
obedient call on his own life and follows Jesus, that evening
he is sitting and they all are dining together.
And this incident happens right there.
And even as you look at the Kingdom life, we see that this
Kingdom life is not something that we are called to live by
our own. We are part of a Kingdom.
We are part of God's Kingdom, and our God is Jesus.
And we see that in this entire Kingdom.
We don't get to just live the way we like.
There are guardrails. There are ways in which God's
calling us to live because we represent him.
We are walking witnesses of Jesus right here on this earth.
And today, as you and me are reading through the Scripture, I
want you to look into your own lives.
Probably there are areas where we've been ashamed of being part
of the Kingdom that we've chosen to live by the standards of the
world. But God saying, no, if you're
part of my Kingdom, if you call me Lord and Savior of your life,
you need to be following me. You need to be living the way I
want you to live, doing what I've called you to do, and also
hope that I would come through. And one of the beautiful things
that we see when Jesus came here to establish his Kingdom here on
this earth is not one like our earthly kingdoms.
He's not like an authoritarian. He's operating out of pure love.
He's cleansed us, He's washed us white as snow.
He's purchased us, He's redeemed us wherein we no longer have to
strive for our salvation. Rather we invite him and we live
the life that he's called us to live.
So let's continue on to read from Mark chapter 2, verses 18
to 22. And this is what it says.
Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting.
Some people came and asked Jesus, How is it that John's the
disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but
yours are not? Jesus answered.
How can the guess of the bridegroom fast while he is with
them? They cannot so long as they have
with him. But the time will come, and the
bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will
fast. No one soothes a patch of
unshrunk cloth on an old garment, otherwise a new piece
will pull away from the old, making the tear worse.
And no one pours new wine into old wine skins, otherwise the
wine will burst the skin. Both the wine and the wine skin
will be ruined, nor they pour new wine into new wine skins.
As we read this, Jesus was talking to a group of Pharisees
and the disciples of John the Baptist.
And one of the things that we see when we are living and being
part of the Kingdom is sometimes if we don't allow ourselves to
live in the newness that Jesus wants us to live, what is the
newness that Jesus wants us? A constant dependency, a
constant communication with him. We will be people who are
questioning everything we see here.
They come in the question. They say why are you not fasting
and probably in the Jewish culture at that time was
probably a season of fast. But Jesus goes on to say they
have the bridegroom with them and it's a time of celebration
during a wedding time during a weddings usually take a week
long celebration and no one is fasting during that week long
celebration. They in fact joyous they're
celebrating. They are are not moaning or
they're not, you know, in repentance mode and sitting
quietly covered in sackcloth. No, there is a time for that.
And here Jesus reiterates them to tell them you need to know
what time you're in. He says there will be a time
when they will fast. There will be a time when they
will pray. There will be a time, but this
is a time for celebration because the bridegroom is with
them. One of the beautiful things we
see as followers of Jesus is we need to be aware of which season
we are in. You know, one of the things that
we see is the disciples just follow Jesus.
And so they, they, they did whatever Jesus told them to do.
They were in the company of Jesus, but the others didn't
know who this Jesus was. They didn't spend time with him.
They didn't acknowledge who Jesus was.
And so often times they looked through these critical eyes
saying that they're not fulfilling something, they're
not observing this, they're not doing that.
But Jesus came to set his Kingdom here on this earth.
And it got me wondering, are we sometimes like that?
Where we have been so caught up in doing the right thing that
our hearts are not there in the right place?
That we have been so caught up in doing the right thing that
our minds are wandered, our hearts are affected with other
things that concern the world rather than concern God?
Because if we are having this dichotomy within ourselves where
we do things so that it looks pleasing to the world that we
are Christ followers, yet our hearts that's a far away.
There is a problem with that. I'll probably our encounter with
Jesus just at one time and eventually we built these
systems, these habits, these ways of saying things and doing
things that we forget that we need to live in the new
anointing. You know, as I'm going to pick
up specifically on the passage of new wine and new wineskins
because I believe that is the Kingdom life.
We are not called to be old wine with old wine skins.
He's saying I want to be new wine with new wine skins.
You know, the world celebrates when things are aged.
It's probably sold much. It probably tastes better.
They have reasons as to what it looks like, but God's saying,
no, I don't want my children. I don't want people who follow
me, who are part of my Kingdom to be content with the old
anointing. And we see a key element in this
is the Holy Spirit, who Jesus said, I'm leaving back so that
he will be there with you to take you on this journey.
We need to be aware of our time. We read in One Chronicles,
chapter 12, verse 32. This is a time when David was
establishing and gathering people around, even as Saul was
just on a wild goose chase to hunt down David.
There was an entire tribe, the sons of Issachar.
It says they knew and understood the times and they joined David.
We need to know when seasons are shifting.
We need to know we need to be aware, and that happens when we
are spiritually connected to God's Word.
That's what I love our church. I love every time when the
church gathers across the world, every Sunday, every every
weekend, when they gather to worship God and hear God's Word.
It's a confirmation of what you've been reading through the
week. That has to be that you can't go
there thinking this will just be my word.
No, it is a confirmation. Everything will culminate.
The Holy Spirit will beautifully integrate everything to what we
are reading and confirming at that season, at that point, at
that week. And so today I want to ask you,
can we be people of discernment? Jesus was saying if you would
know your time, he was telling that to the Pharisees and to
John the Baptist disciples, you would be discerning of what's
happening right now, what was happening?
The Messiah was seated right there.
The Messiah was seated. He says He came to seek and save
those which are lost and he was sitting right there with the tax
collectors and he was seeking and doing conversations with
them. He was discerning.
He was at that home. The disciples were with Jesus.
And so today, as we follow this Kingdom life here on this earth,
one of the key qualities we need to have is discernment.
In fact, that's I'm just piggybacking of what we heard
last week as she concluded. Discernment is the baseline.
We need to discern. When we discern is when we will
know which season we are in. It's in discerning.
We'll know whether we are operating out of our old wine or
have you allowed God to work in and through us that we can
operate out of the new wine? Why were they blinded?
They were blinded by tradition, appearances and status.
And Jesus wants to deal with that in our own lives.
One of the beautiful things about the Kingdom life is we
always will unlearn. And then we'd learn.
We don't come here. It's not like we get educated
like how we do in our schools and our universities and then we
go into work here in this school of the Kingdom of life.
We always unlearn and learn because there's always this
component that gets attached to us because of our very own
sinful nature. And Jesus is saying, I want to
unlearn so that you can learn. Your dependency has to be solely
on me. In this Kingdom life, there's no
one else who you can depend on but me, and that's Jesus.
So one of the key Kingdom principles with regard to
unlearning so we can learn. In fact, it's very so true in my
life. I remember in 2013 when God, we
had just finished five years of working with our church and we
had taken, we had quit and gone to study.
And I remember those next two years was a lot of unlearning,
lot of unlearning, unlearning because we were in a bubble and
got her to take us out. And in that season, it didn't
look like, I mean, we weren't serving.
We want we, we were present, but there was a lot of unlearning
and a lot of learning. And I still remember the two
years before we started the church in 2016, seventeen, a
lot, a lot of unlearning. I remember we used to go for our
cohort sessions and it was happening in Bangalore.
And so every time we left, we had to drive there six hours.
And even as you're going, we went with a lot of questions.
We went with God. Why is this?
What, how, why now, Why all that?
And when we came back, we came back with all those questions
answered because God taught us how to unlearn right there and
he taught us how to learn right there.
So today it comes down to us. And I would encourage if you
would take time to look into your own life and say, God, what
is it that I have to unlearn? Some things have become so
confident, but I don't know about you, but sometimes when we
do things 4-5 times, we've become so confident of that
process. We know this is what the outcome
is. But with Kingdom life, God's
telling no. Your dependency should be on me
so you will trust me with the outcome.
So there are three things I want to highlight even as we look
into the Scripture. The first thing which I want to
do with Jesus in our lives, every season needs a new
anointing. Every season needs a new
anointing. Yesterday's anointing cannot
sustain me for today. Today a lot of us are dependent
on yesterday's anointing. What does that mean?
A lot of us have to. When we are doing this Christian
walk, we are walking in seasons. There's a season of sewing,
there's a season of watering, There's a season of growth.
There's a season of pruning. There's a season of harvest.
There's a season of rest. There's a season of planting the
seeds again and we see that our lives are in seasons.
And just imagine if each and every individual one of us are
in a season, then imagine the entire church.
Each of us have our own seasons and we need to know what season
we are in. Because if we have to operate in
the season we are in today, we need today's anointing.
We can't rely on yesterday's anointing.
Yesterday's anointing was for yesterday.
Today's anointing is for today. And that's why we have to seek
God every day. That's why we go back to His
words in God. I need your grace today.
God, I need your help today. God, I need your word for today.
I need to seek Jesus every season and operate out of that
anointing I receive for that day.
A lot of us are trying to operate the entire new season
with an old anointing. We can get away, we can showcase
we've got it. But Jesus knows, you know, last
week we were just looking in the youth.
We were looking and it reminded me our intentions matter a lot.
Our heart intentions matter a lot because we can justify
ourselves with our actions, but our motives really matter.
And it says here that if we do not operate the new season with
the new anointing and if you're operating out of the old
anointing, it leaves us empty. How many of you've seen that,
that you've you've just, you've just clinging on to a promise
that was given for a previous season and it's left you empty.
Some of you seem to be operating out of that old anointing, but
it's kept in the same position. You don't see any movement for
lot of us when we are in that old anointing and we don't have
a fresh revelation. We don't have plans for the
next. We seem to have so many plans in
our mind, but we're not able to convert it into paper.
Some of us, for those of us who are stuck in paper, we're not
able to see it in reality. We need a fresh anointing.
We need a fresh anointing from him.
We feel left alone while others are going forward.
Jesus draws a parallel to new wine and new wine skin.
And the reason is these new wine that's been processed, that's
been made, is stored and is used then and there, It's used for
that season. They don't just keep it and
store it and, you know, keep it for years and no, they use it
for that season right ahead. It was a staple thing.
So which Jesus is coming to say you all should desire in your
wine. And even as we look into that, I
wanted to take a couple of a portion from Isaiah and it shows
a parallel as to what happens when we settle with the old
anointing, when we settle with the old wine, when we settle
thinking, you know what, that's enough.
Isaiah chapter 5 verses one to seven.
And this is what it says. Now I will sing for the one I
love a song about his vignette. My beloved had a vignette on a
rich and fertile hill. He ploughed the land, cleared
its stones and planted it with the best vines.
In the middle he built a watchtower and carved a
winepress in the nearby rocks. Then he waited for a harvest of
sweet grapes. The grapes that grew were
bitter. Now, people of Jerusalem and
Judah, you judge between me and my vineyard.
What more could I have done for my vineyard that I have not
already done when I expected sweet grapes?
Why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes?
Now let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard.
I will tear down its hedges and let it be destroyed.
I will breakdown its walls and let the animals trample it.
I will make it a wild place where the wines are not pruned
and the ground is not Ford, a place of overgrown with briar
and thorns. I will command the clouds to
drop. No rain on it.
The nation of Israel is a vineyard of the Lord of heaven's
armies. The people of Judah had his
pleasant gardens. He expected a crop of justice,
but instead he found oppression. He expected to find
righteousness, but instead he heard cries of violence.
What is inside matters. What is inside matters.
Today we are all about appearances.
The reason why we desire for a new anointing is because we want
to be changed inside out. The reason why we desire for a
new anointing is that we are saying, God fill me in first
before I pour it out. Lord fill me in first.
I don't want to operate out of the old anointing.
The old anointing will be bitter.
The old anointing will bring about prejudice.
The old anointing will bring about judgement.
The old anointing will make me strive.
And one of the things we see here, Isaiah's prophesying.
And right after this, God sends the Assyrians to them, and you
know they go into captivity. What we see happen is when we
stop seeking God's anointing in the everyday, when we settle for
the old anointing, whatever good turns to bad.
Yes, the people enjoyed freedom, the old anointing, probably they
enjoyed that freedom. But soon the freedom later
became they started oppressing those who were underneath them.
The richest got to them and then they started becoming proud.
They suddenly start thought they had more than enough and they
didn't need a God. So you see, sometimes our old
anointing can be the very chokehold for us to receive
God's blessing today. And I would ask if we can all go
back to that posture of the altar where we say God we are
sorry, my heart was not in the right place.
My heart was proud. In fact, when I read from the
message, this is what it says in verse 7.
It says do you get it? The veneer of the God of the
Angel armies is the country of Israel.
All the men and women of Judah are the garden he was so proud
of. He looked for a crop of justice
and saw them murdering each other.
He looked for harvest of righteousness and heard only the
moans of victims. And so today I want to ask you,
Church, I want to ask us, are we people who are operating off the
old anointing that we think we're doing God's work and we're
living the Kingdom life, but yet we become oppressors.
We've become people who are slanderers.
We've become people who are gossip.
We have become people who are so discontent.
God's wanting us to have a heart check.
Sin turns good into evil. The old anointing can only guard
us and keep us safe for that season.
Some of those successes that come out of the old anointing
will become the very stones that we stumble and fall in the new
season in a pursuit to show kindness and help.
We end up causing more damage because we fail to work on our
anointing and rely on our good works.
The reading of Isaiah is a reminder that are anointing for
a season may be a chokehold for the coming season ahead if we
don't see God in comparison. Jesus reminded the people that
they just don't have to fast and celebrate and do this out of the
rhythm of just being in Israel, being an Israelite and just
doing it because everyone is doing it.
But rather it has to be a heart dissection where I go back and
say God in the season of fast I truly repent.
I'm just not doing it so that we all are called to do it.
No, I'm doing it because God, you are working in through me.
When it's a season of celebration, I'm really giving
thanks. I'm really celebrating.
I'm really in jubilation of what God's done and I testify about
what He's done. You see that anointing is
essential if we need Jesus to be in our life so that we can live
this Kingdom lifeout. The anointing is what will keep
us in check. The anointing is what will guard
our very mouth before we even utter it.
The anointing it is what will enable our discernment levels to
be more clear. Our anointing is what will open
our spiritual ears and spiritual eyes to see His truth, to see
the fruitfulness of the Kingdom of God in our own lives.
We need to wholly give ourselves to Him, not in part.
So today there has to be an equation between our inner man
and what we do. We can keep doing it all we want
because many of us are people pleasers.
Many of us are doing it for the crowd.
Many of us are doing it for the audiences.
We can do, we can show up, we can be there.
But God saying, I want you entirely not a part of you, not
the physical part of you. In fact, one of the things Jesus
came to the world and wanted to break down was the physical act,
which they got right. He wanted to break that down.
He said the physical act and your spiritual act are not
matching. And today in the Kingdom life,
they both have to match. And that's where the anointing
comes. And so church today, I want you
to come first to realize that you all need the anointing.
It's not for the one who's actually on this side of the
pulpit. No, it's for each and every one
of us. I need the anointing every time
I come to speak God's. But this, I'll be speaking out
of my own flesh. I'll be speaking what I think is
right. I have to come to a peace in God
as I'm speaking this Lord. You're doing this in my life and
I'm grateful for you. I'm grateful even as I share
this. I know I'm not worthy.
But even as I stand and hear and share it, I'm sharing it because
you are working in and through my life.
And so Church, I want to ask you today, each of you desire the
anointing. Each of you are meant to have
your own anointing and each of you are called to operate in
that anointing. That anointing is for this
season, this season. So today, if you are a parent
and if you have a teenager, ask him, God, I want the anointing
of that, to parent a teenager. For those of you who are single
and who are ready to get married, you've started your
work, you've been working, and now parents are starting to look
out for you. Ask God.
Even as I'm looking out for this person in my life, I have to do
life with. Give me the anointing for that.
And suddenly what happens when the anointing comes?
Things that matter the most start becoming, rising up to the
surface. Things that don't matter the
most all start sinking. Now you start keeping your eyes
on what God's called you. That's why I love when we seek
His anointing for that season. He shows us what to value, what
to make the main thing name and press on.
The second thing that we see is with Jesus in our lives, every
crushing needs a VAT. Every crushing needs a VAT.
You know, even as I'm talking about the new wine, new wine
skin, I was just reading up upon the entire process of how wine
is made and why Jesus brought this as a reference.
And on the beautiful things that you see happen in the culture of
Israel is they had these places where these where they would
build so that they can bring all the harvested grapes, put it in
there, they would wash their feet and they would jump into
it. And this is where it became a
community thing. And this is where I think Jesus
says that, you know, constantly says that you're not called to
do this life alone. You have to do it with people.
And So what happens in that process of the crushing of the
grapes is people stand and they stack.
And if you see them do that entire process, it's it's one
they sing songs, it's a it's a time of they make, they make joy
out of the work that they're doing.
But the entire thing is it's, it's merciless.
The grapes don't receive any mercy.
And it's a messy affair. And I believe a lot of times
when we are giving ourselves to Jesus in this Kingdom life and
we submit ourselves, we go through that crushing.
We go through that crushing, and the crushing is necessary.
A lot of us today are outside trying to figure out a way of
how we can become wine without the crushing.
But Jesus saying, no, you need to go through that process of
crushing. And what does that crushing
involve? God allows us to crush it.
If I for for those of us who don't like the messiness, we
might just be so soft in our crushing.
But Jesus saying no, if you need to go through that crushing, you
need to do it the right way. You need to do it the right way.
In Israel they stood on the wine press and crushed the grapes.
And another thing is the heel is the strongest part of the
crushing in our feet. The heel where our entire body
weight rests on is where the crushing is the most.
And crushing is really necessary.
Crushing is nearly necessary. Even as I said earlier, sin
everything. If we operate on the old
anointing and we don't seek for the new, suddenly the good
becomes evil because sin is constantly at work.
Just because we've received our anointing doesn't mean we are
devoid of sin. It's in our in our process of
being anointed, we are made more aware of our sinful nature.
And So what happens in this crushing is that even as we are,
we are using our heel to crush. We are crushing our pride.
We are crushing our selfishness. We are crushing our self pity.
We are crushing our me first attitude.
We are crushing our understanding of God.
Why? I'm making it all about myself.
God causes us to stand on our heels and crush it, crush our
own grapes, crush our own ego, crush our own self so that He
will be glorified through that, so that we die to our sin.
And even as I was meditating on this and I suddenly the Holy
Spirit reminded me the heel has the power to crush.
And a lot of us are hesitating to crush with our heel because
we don't want sin to go out completely from our lives.
If I take our references back to Genesis chapter 3 verses 15, God
comes into the garden and asks Adam and Eve where they are and
they are hiding. And then Eve points out, this is
what Satan made me do. And this is what God gives us, a
punishment to Satan. And where did it say?
It says in three verse 15, Genesis 315, I will put enmity
between you and the women and between your offspring and hers
and he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.
The reason why we need the new anointing is because Satan is
constantly going to be attacking our heel.
He's going to be constantly attacking our heel so that we
don't crush sin out of our own systems, so that we don't crush
sin out of our own earthly desires that we have.
So for those of you who want to crush pornography out, stand by
your heel and in Jesus name, break it.
For those of you who want to crush the emotional distress
that you're going through, take courage in who Jesus is and
stand on your heel and crush every negativity that the enemy
is putting. For those of you who want to
take a hold of your sexuality, stand on your heels and crush
the enemy on the questioning that he's doing over your
sexuality. For those of you who are who are
discontent with your marriage better and looking elsewhere, I
would urge you person to take, I would urge you believer, take
Jesus at His word and stand on your heels and crush sin out of
that grapefruit that is causing you discontent and causing you
to look elsewhere, causing you to look elsewhere.
He will constantly strike you at this because He doesn't want you
to let go of the sinful nature. That's what happens in the
crushing. It breaks us, it tears us apart.
It messes us up so much that we're saying, God, I'm so sorry,
my sinful nature was at play. Romans chapter 16 verses 19 to
20 goes on to say everyone has heard about your obedience, so I
rejoice because of you, but I want you to be wise about what
is good and innocent about what is evil.
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
I was meditating on this. I was thinking, God, what is it
that you want me to be aware he's saying here Paul tells the
Roman church as he concludes he says everyone has heard about
your obedience, so I rejoice, but I want you to be wise so
that what is good and innocent. He wants us to be wise about
what is good and innocent about what is evil.
In the message, it says make sure every good thing is a real
thing. People's intentions,
discernment, all that will have to go through the healing.
You will soon see people's true color in their crushing.
You will see that's why people who have not sought after a new
anointing in the crushing go missing from church, they go
missing from community. They suddenly are within the
four walls having a pity party all by themselves.
And God is saying rise up. You need the new anointing in
your life. You need to go through the
crushing so that you will know and die to your sinful nature.
The crushing causes me to re evaluate the crushing causes me
to distinguish between the good and innocent.
Things that I thought were good and innocent, but they actually
are evil. But they're actually are evil.
They're not. They're not causing me to take
make progress in this new season that God's calling me.
It's in the crushing of the grapes that every small bit,
everything that's unwanted, the seed, the, the stem of it,
everything starts coming out. Everything is separated.
The skin comes out, the pulp comes out, everything gets.
And it's in that that they all go down to the bottleneck where
they get filtered out and that gets poured into the VAT.
When you see the olden days, how they did it, especially in
Israel's context, is with every of that wine press next to it.
They would have dug up and they would have placed earthen
vessels there, and this wine would go in which is being
pressed. They would collect all the
sediments away, but they would go right in.
And as it goes right in, as it goes in, it goes in there and it
sits there. And in a couple of weeks it
ferments. It ferments and it becomes wine.
And a lot of us today need a rat for our crushing.
You don't need social media to tell people you know what, I'm
going through crushing. You don't need your best friends
here to say, you know what, I'm going through a crushing.
You need Jesus and you time to go through a crushing.
There are a few people who I know who would rather spend
their Sunday mornings with Jesus and coffee and breakfast or
Jesus coffee and brunch. I would challenge you come to
the community of believers because that's where you'll find
encouragement. That's where you'll be able to
stand in the gap for someone else who's wanting a
breakthrough. If you don't stand for someone
else who's wanting a breakthrough, how will someone
else be able to stand on your behalf and pray for your
breakthrough? That's what community does.
The problem is a lot of us have gone into silos with our vats,
but the beauty that we see in following Jesus is that we bring
that crushing. We bring that very wine, wine
that's come out after all that messiness.
We bring it back every day to Jesus and we allow Him to walk
in and through us. The reason is why I'm saying we
all need a VAT. A lot of us are using someone
else's VAT. Lot of us are using our support
system. Lot of us are use our thinking,
our spouse is our saviour. Lot of us are thinking our
parents is our saviour. Lot of us are using our kids as
our VAT. Lot of us are thinking, you know
what, my Monday to Friday is my VAT.
That's where no God is saying you need to take it for
yourself. Dig a hole, put it right there
and allow it to ferment, allow it to work.
There'll be seasons where God will say, you know what, just
take a step back. Let me, let me work in you.
This thing that's caused you to see the messiness and the sin
that you've dealt with and everything.
Allow me to shape you today. Allow me to shape you.
And that's where we have the Potter who's willing to shape
our VAT so that we can hold the wine and he can work in and
through us. It's in the crushing which
brings us to a place of total surrender.
And as we give our lives to Him holy, we realized that we give
our identity a security and our dependency to Him.
A false sense of identity is crushed, a false understanding
of security is crushed, and that whatever we are leaning and
hoping on and the dependency that we have is crushed.
And Jesus is saying I am here to strengthen you.
I am here to work in and through you.
I remember a season in my life when the crushing happened and
everything happened and I knew that I was not being used of God
in the physical, but in the spiritual.
God was definitely doing something.
God was enabling me to see the Kingdom at large.
God was starting to deposit certain and things and I
realized in that season if I was more busy in the physical, I
would have missed out of everything in the things that he
was doing in the spiritual. So for those of you who've been,
probably you were busy at one season and now you're holding
back. You're seeing God is taking you
through this crushing face. Enjoy the season of rat because
in this, in the season of rat is where he ferments it.
In the season of rat is where he births a lot of things in the
season of rat where he gives dreams and visions and ideas of
what you have to do. It's in the season of rat he
equips you. It's in the season of rat.
You draw closer to him because then there will be a season when
he'll call you to pour out and it'll be busy and you will be
pouring out out of what you've received.
The crushing happens because we are not aligned with the Word,
but rather with Jesus. So today if you've gone through
the crushing, go to that VAT and say, God, I'm here, deposit in
me, work in this new self in me. Lord Jesus, whatever was causing
that sinful nature, I'm out of it.
Today. I allow you to work in and
through me, in and through me. And it goes on to say John 15,
when I was reading it, reminded me that Jesus goes on to say the
world hates me. So don't think that the world
has to like you. The world will hate you because
you are mine. The world will persecute you
because it also persecuted me. And one of the things that got
me to understand was the fact that Jesus when he walked here
on this earth, went through the crushing.
Himself went through the crushing.
So today a lot of people will preach to you that we don't.
We are called to be kings. We are called to be sons.
We are called to be prosperous. All that may sound good to our
reaching years, but when we start going through the gospel
narrative of what Jesus has to do in and through our lives, He
will crush sin out of us the more we go deeper in identifying
God. What is it you want me to do?
He reveals our sinful nature. He tells us, take your heel and
stamp on it. This anger issue which has come
down generationally, stamp on it.
This alcoholism which has come down generationally, stamp on
it. This infidelity which has been
coming down to you from generation after generation,
stamp on it. It stops with you.
Go, let it die with you here in this wine press.
And as the wine goes in, allow me to work in you.
Let me give you new desires. Let me give you new thirst.
Let me give you new longings. Let me give you new dreams.
Let me reveal the will of God for your life so that you can
walk in that anointing, so that you can walk in your anointing.
So today as we as I conclude this point, I want to ask you,
what is your rat today? A lot of you have taken your rat
as your social media. You're thinking you need to
process everything out there on social media.
But God saying no, it's only between you and me.
Let us spend time together. A lot of you are finding those
who are disgruntled, and I'm thinking, you know what?
We need to, we need to do this together.
No God saying no, I'll deal with them separately.
I'm here to deal with you. That is where ferments and the
sediments go down. Whatever's still lagging behind,
he still works and those sediments go down.
Learn to enjoy the quietness. Learn to enjoy the presence.
Learn to enjoy worshipping. Learn to enjoy reading, learn to
enjoy and meditating. Allow him to speak to you.
Those years that it start opening up, that is where we
learn what we are set apart for and set apart from.
We are set apart for his glory and we are set apart from
something and so automatically things starts changing.
Hebrews chapter 12 verse 11 goes on to say NLT no discipline is
enjoyable while it's happening. It's painful, but afterward
there will be a peaceful harvest of right living.
For those who are trained in this way, there is going to be a
harvest. There is going to be a time of
pouring out. There is going to be a time
where you will be used. But if you enjoyed the season of
the VAT where he's caused you to, but he's been in
communication where all those sediments have gone down, He
will cause you to live out in the new anointing.
The third thing we see is when Jesus in our lives, we are
yielding ourselves to the Holy Spirit daily.
We are yielding ourselves to the Holy Spirit daily today.
Now wine skins are filled today. I want to ask you as we read,
when the wine is ready, we ask and God, where do you want me to
pour out? And we get transferred from
these bats into wine skins. And so it's important that this
fresh revelation that we receive does not go back into old
bodies, into old wineskins, because old wineskins won't help
you serve. It's purposes rather burst.
And so this is where we are dependent on the Holy Spirit.
When we have new wineskins where He causes us to pour.
We are not called to store up. They're called to pour out.
And that's a beautiful thing that we see when when with new
wine and new wine skins, we are called to pour out.
A lot of us have a season of anointing and I've carefully
been put into our wine skins, but a lot of us are unable to
pour out because we we still carry that old bitterness that
as a mark that we are still residing in old wineskins.
So today, our wineskin don't define us.
Don't take an old seasons wineskin and try using it in the
new season. It won't make sense.
Our ministry cannot be what defines us.
A lot of us are trying to pour new wine through that lens of
ministry. A lot of us are trying to pour
out new wine by if you're endorsed by others.
No, you're it's between you and God.
Pour it out the way He wants you to pour it out.
A lot of us are wanting to be defined and endorsed by others.
A lot of us are wanting Papas, fathers, bishops, and everyone
else breathing through down us to tell where to pour.
It's between you and the Holy Spirit.
All of humanity has only a certain kind and an amount of
revelation. No one has.
No one here has a revelation as much as the Holy Spirit.
Depend on the Holy Spirit. Ask Him where to pour out.
Don't look for significant places.
Start doing the insignificant well, because that's where God
wants us to be. That's where God wants us to
pour out. Because when we pour out our
insignificant, when we pour out our new wine in insignificant
places, he is glorified because he brings that significance.
To eyes, it still seems insignificant, but to his eyes,
everything is significant. Can we imagine that we will
never look for stages and platforms, but rather we would
look for God opportunities, we'd look for God appointments, we'd
look for God places. So today when the wine after
it's kept in a VAT and fermented, it's meant to be used
and poured out. Where is Jesus calling you to
pour out today in this Kingdom life?
You know when we read about when when a when a wine bottle is
open it has to last for three to six days.
But if you re cock it and store it in a cool place and a dark
place it might last. But there are certain things
which are present in the wine. They call it the tanis.
Tanis are basically plant compounds extracted from grapes
during wine making. They can be found in the skin
and the seeds and the stems of the grapes, but if there is more
of the Tannus, they tend to last longer because they're protected
against oxygen. And even as I was reading this,
it reminded me the Holy Spirit who breathes life cannot work if
there is still Tannus in your wine.
These sediments are not meant to be make it into your wine which
is being poured out. So which means it comes down to
a daily yielding of the Holy Spirit because he's going to
reveal, hey, this is a Tanus. This is these are sediments.
These are things that are not of me.
These are things that should have been filtered out.
So can you filter it out before you pour it out?
That's why every time when we come to serve, we do a
filtration and we come every time we ask God, God, I'm not, I
feel unworthy to do this. He prepares us and he says, now
go do it. He go do it.
You're not doing a lot of your strength.
They're doing a lot of the strength that I give.
John 14 was 26. Jesus says before he goes, He
says. But the Advocate, the Holy
Spirit, who the Father will send in my name will teach you all
things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
And it got me thinking. A lot of us are unable to listen
to the Holy Spirit when He wants to weed out certain things out
of our lives. The tenaces have to be removed
from our lives, from your life and my life.
We all have wine to pour, but it comes with these sediments which
are not good. And it got me thinking, these
stannises, because they don't allow oxygen to happen, it makes
the wine last longer. Sometimes you're carrying that
extra portion of old wine into an old, into a new season.
And so today at church, I want us to come to a place.
Can we become more aware of what season we are in?
Can we be aware of what season we have left so that we don't
yearn for that? If we've left it, we've left it.
Let's look at the season we are in.
And for those of us who've been in the season that you're in for
some time, would you also start looking for the season that
you're heading into? Because there are some promises
that we start need to claim, start claiming.
We need to sometimes have that extra lift in our steps so that
we'll be able to push through. We need that extra portion of
grace and strength. And so even as I was thinking,
God, this Kingdom life seems so hard.
How do we live it out? How do we what, what, what are
you wanting us to do? And God reminded me of what I
read in one Peter chapter 4 verses 7 to 11.
And this is what it says. The end of the world is coming
soon. Therefore be honest and
disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue
to show deep love for each other for love covers a multitude of
sins. Cheerfully share your home with
those who need a meal or a place to stay.
God has given each of you a gift from His great variety of
spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one
another. Do you have the gift of speaking
that speak as the God Himself was speaking through you?
Do you have the gift of helping others?
Do it with all strength and energy that God supplies.
Then everything you do will bring glory to God through
Jesus, or glory and power to Him forever and ever.
Amen. There are a couple of things
which I want to highlight even as I close.
What does the pouring of wine look like?
This anointing that you've received?
As each and every one of you have received it, it looks
different. But here are some applications
that we can go back to and thank God.
Are these some areas that I've intentionally not looked into?
Would you allow me to look into? So therefore, the first thing I
would say is therefore be honest and disciplined in your prayers.
When we receive this anointing, we are disciplined in our
prayers. We commit everything to prayer.
We don't take anything lightly where we are called to pour.
May we continue to grow in deep love for one another cheerfully,
without grudgingly and grumbing. Share your home with those who
need a meal and a place to stay. God has given each and everyone
of us spiritual gifts. Use them.
Serve one another, it says. Do you have a gift of speaking?
Wait on God and allow Him to open that right door for you to
go and speak. Use the gift.
Do you have a gift of helping others?
Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies.
I remember a friend who was complaining.
They had served, they had opened their their home and they were
having this guest over and they served and this person enjoyed
the meal at their home and they were upset that that person
didn't comment anything about the food.
Don't do it for the appreciation of people.
Do it like you're doing it unto God.
If Jesus was sitting at the table, our love should be
overrun so much that we'll be able to do it so that we'll come
to this place like God. I'm doing it for you no matter
what. And that will get past.
That will get past. And God's wanting us to rise up
to that place, that even as we pour out today, even as we have
been crushed, even as you're fine being filled into that VAT,
even as we are yielding ourselves to the Holy Spirit for
our everyday, He's asking to pour out that new wine.
To pour out that new wine. Would you trust me?
Because every place that you go, you would need to do it
prayerfully. There's nothing you cannot do
without considering it. Pray.
And even as I had mentioned earlier, maybe come to a place
where we are able to distinguish between the good and the evil
because God wants us to be alert.
God wants us to be alert. So today, Church, even as I
close, I want to give this opportunity to you for those of
you who've been struggling to invite Jesus in.
Because I know many of us don't love the crushing.
Many of us don't love the way in which sometimes God takes us in
and molds us and shapes us. But Jesus saying, if you need to
live this Kingdom life, you need to go through that.
You need to go. Let us become more aware of your
presence. Let us be aware, Lord, of the
season that we are in, so that we will be useful for you in
this Kingdom. So Church, even as we step in,
may every season be a place where we seek for new anointing.
May every crushing that we have maybe do it so that our heels
are crushing at once. And for all that sin and Satan
and his schemes don't have any way, may be filtered out so that
our rats will be filled, maybe be fermented to those sediments
might go down, Everything of the earthly and sinful nature will
die off. And then as we allow the Holy
Spirit to live, maybe not allow those tenaces to chokehold the
Holy Spirit away, but maybe rather allow the Holy Spirit to
show us where to pour it out. Maybe maybe not go to
preservation mode, but maybe go out into pouring out mode so
that you're pouring out up my pour my love on you.
And I love how God's asking us, would you come out and pour the
love that we have for our God towards him, towards his people.
What God's calling us is not to be in silos, but to do it in
community so that we'll be able to see his people and do it for
his glory. And so that we'll be able to
live this out knowing that God's calling us for greater things in
the days to come. So Church, can I pray for all
those of you listening and watching, if you can join with
the Lord. We thank you, Lord, for this
time. Lord, I thank you, Lord, that in
the crushing, in the waiting, in the things that are happening
right now, Lord, in our own lives, we committed to you, Lord
Jesus. And even as we heard this word,
I pray we won't shy away or we won't run away from the Kingdom
life, but rather we would press on.
Lord Jesus, I pray specifically, Lord, for these people who are
struggling, Lord, of letting go their previous season.
I pray, Lord, you would come down right now and give them the
strength to let go. I pray for those who are in the
season right now and where you've placed them.
Let them become more aware, Lord Jesus, more sensitive, more
clear of what you're calling them to do.
Lord Jesus, I pray for those who are struggling in their faith,
Lord Jesus, to take a step of faith into the new season that
you're calling. I pray they would step in with
new anointing, with a new crushing Lord Jesus, with new
wine so that in due time they'll be able to pour that out.
Lord Jesus, we thank you take us on this journey so that we'll be
able to give you the glory and honor that you will be
glorified. Lord Jesus, I pray maybe never
become, Lord Jesus, people who become so sticklers, Lord Jesus,
that we just operate out of the physical and I break everyone
who's every spiritual stronghold that's causing us to operate
only out of the physical. But I pray there'll be a unison
between a spiritual and a physical that we will operate in
that Lord Jesus, go before us, be with us, bless the food and
water of our home, bless our conversations.
I pray our doorposts will be marked by a precious blood that
we'll be able to enjoy your love, peace and joy everyday.
Lord Jesus, be with us. I pray especially for those who
are listening. Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, work in
them. I pray specifically right now,
Lord, people will identify the season that they are in.
They will desire for the new wine, and they will run after
you. Lord, mostly we pray, Amen,
Amen. So Church, even as you step out
this week, I pray and step out in boldness.
Don't be scared of the word of crushing, because after every
crushing comes something beautiful.
I am a testament of that. I've seen God come through that.
What he's crushed and what he continues, He keeps crushing.
It's because this world will cause us to look elsewhere.
But that's where we go back to his word.
We go back to his presence. We go back to his people, we go
back to his church and say, God, I'm here, I've shown up, I'm
here for you. Let's press in together.
Let's do this Kingdom life together because Jesus wants us
to live our best in the Kingdom that He's called us to live.
So I pray that you have a blessed week.
Go out in boldness and be strengthened in Jesus name.
God bless you all. Thanks for listening to this
message. We hope you were blessed to hear
more messages like this. Make sure to subscribe and check
out our podcast channel for past episodes.
If you like what you are hearing, consider rating us,
subscribing, and even sharing it with friends.
That would really help us. For more content from Via Zion
and to connect with us, go to viazion.in.
Remember, whoever finds Jesus finds life.