New Wine

Part 2 of New Wine, Fresh Oil Sermon Series

Communion

John 6:54–57 “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is real food, and My blood is real drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will also live because of Me.”

As we prepare to partake in Holy Communion this morning, we must recognize the profound connection between the body and blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the bread and the juice we hold in our hands. These are not merely symbols; they are an appropriation of the New Covenant. As we participate in this covenant act, we are literally applying His healing to our physical bodies, His forgiveness to our souls, and His deliverance to our spirits. His body is our medicine. His blood removes our sin. As we eat we are healed, as we drink we are forgiven.

This meal is also a weapon of spiritual warfare. By sitting at the Table of the Lord, we proclaim our unity the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Our literal co-union with the blood and the body of Christ. For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread. (1 Corinthians 10:17 )

We are not only remembering a past event; we are connecting what Christ did on the cross with what He is doing right now in this room. We are participating in our union with Him, and prophesying to our seat at the wedding feast of the Lamb. We are reminding all of heaven and earth whose Kingdom we belong to, and celebrate the very life that bore us into it.

As we eat, we proclaim whose Table we sit at. We proclaim His resurrection life and declare: “By His stripes I am healed!” (eat the bread) I am a New Creation in Christ

As we drink, we proclaim the eternal promise of His covenant. We declare: “By His blood I am forgiven!” (drink the juice) Go to hell, Satan, I am not your prisoner!

In this moment, we make the Great Exchange - trading sin for freedom, shame for forgiveness, sickness for health, death for life, and old for new!

Welcome

Guests, online followers: Facebook @crosscreekfl and YouTube @crosscreekflorida

Opening

Everything has a season, and every season has a shelf life. Here in Florida, the shifts are subtle, but the laws of nature remain: you don’t look for blueberries in September, and you won’t find a ripe mango in December.

I remember for my fifth or sixth birthday, all I wanted was a watermelon. There was only one problem - my birthday is in February. To make my birthday dreams come true, my grandpa had to send all the way to Mexico and have one mail-ordered to us in a box! He had to go outside of the natural environment to find something that simply didn’t belong to the current season.

God has made everything beautiful in it’s time, and for it’s time. One example of this proficiency is the Manna He provided to His people in the desert. They could gather just enough for that one day, and the rest would be rotten come morning. It was a miracle at 6 am and a mess by midnight... perfect for the day, but no good for tomorrow.

We often try to live off the “Manna” of a previous move of God. We try to preserve what was meant to be consumed. We try to hold on to yesterday’s provisions for tomorrow’s promises.

Similarly, before refrigeration, grape juice was on a countdown. The moment the harvest hit the press, the old wine on the shelf was officially on borrowed time. You can’t stop the fermentation or freeze the process. The “New” was coming as quick as the harvester could carry, and it demanded its own space.

Last week, we talked about following the Presence of the Lord into a promised harvest season. Today, that harvest is being pressed. The first drops of the New Wine are beginning to flow, bringing with it a hope for abundance. But New Wine also carries a fresh anointing and a new vision that the old containers simply cannot hold.

Pray

New Seasons, New Strategies

God moves differently in different seasons and if we are following His Presence, we should be sensitive to His leading, avoid the trap of the familiar, and be open to change. As Moses led the people through the wilderness, he wrote in Deuteronomy 2:1–3 “Then we turned and journeyed into the wilderness of the Way of the Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me, and we skirted Mount Seir for many days. “And the Lord spoke to me, saying: ‘You have skirted this mountain long enough; turn northward.””

How many of you know that sometimes you feel like you’re getting somewhere, but you’re just skirting around the same mountain? You think you’re moving forward, but you’re just going in circles? We often confuse “doing” with “going.” That’s what happens when we try to hold on to old wine when God wants to give us a fresh outpouring.

The Israelites were “skirting” the mountain - they were walking, they were working, and they were weary. But they weren’t winning! They weren’t getting anywhere! We often go in circles because the circle is familiar. We know where the rocks are, we know where there’s shade. But past success does not guarantee future advancement.

He doesn’t want us to keep going in circles, that’s what traps us in the “same old same old.” If we try to repeat the strategy of the last season, we will end up stuck in a spiritual circle. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results - and God doesn’t want us to be stuck there. We want to move where God is moving, so when He says “turn Northward,” He’s calling us away from the predictable and into uncharted territory.

We gotta listen for that “holy nudge” in this new season, and be open to God’s urge to pivot, change direction, or adjust our ways. That holy nudge is often in the form of “divine dissatisfaction.” If you feel restless with the “same old same old,” it might not be the enemy - it might be God trying to make you MOVE OUT of your comfort zone. Don’t worry, God won’t leave you out there without a map, but don’t expect it to look like the place you just came from. The things that worked in the South don’t apply this over that way.

Progress takes Pressing

The movement God is calling us into requires more than just a new map; it requires a new momentum. They had that manna out in the dessert to keep them fired up, but the manna is nothing compared the fuel of the Promised Land. God wont just change your direction, He’ll give you the right fuel for the journey. The “turn” and the “outpouring” always go hand-in-hand. The old Manna can't provide the fresh infusion we need for the new season. We need New Wine for this victory!

New wine is the freshest evidence of God’s favor. it isn’t a dusty bottle from last year’s victory; it is the immediate result of the current harvest. Throughout the Bible, grain, wine, and oil represent a complete, divine provision and blessing from the Lord. As in Genesis 27:28 “Therefore may God give you Of the dew of heaven, Of the fatness of the earth, And plenty of grain and wine.” Joel 3:18 “And it will come to pass in that day That the mountains shall drip with new wine, The hills shall flow with milk, And all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water; A fountain shall flow from the house of the Lord...”

New wine is often promised as God’s reward for obedience. Before the press, grapes are ripe, round, and individual. So, New Wine implies transformation, and transformation requires a press. You simply cannot have wine without sacrificing the grape. You cannot experience unity with God while you are holding onto your “self.” The press forces what is individual to become a fluid mass. To have the unity of New Wine, we have to let go of our individual agendas.

So many times we want the blessing of God, we want the vats to overflow, but we resist the “press.” We want what we feel belongs to us, and so we withhold our best from the Lord. In our desire to preserve our individual identities, we forfeit the untold blessings of unity with Christ. His desire was that we would be one as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are One (John 17:21)

Jesus also knew this pressing and understood the cost of this unity. In the Garden at Gethsemane - which literally means “Oil Press” - He felt the weight of the world’s pressure. All the bondage of generations pressing down on Him to rescue us. He prayed for the cup to pass, but He submitted to the press. He became the “first fruit” by allowing His life to be poured out.

You can tell a lot from a person when they’re under pressure. When life presses in on you - when the season gets tight - what leaks out of you? If it’s bitterness, anger, or fear, you may still be holding on to the “skin” of the old man. But when you are filled with the Spirit, the pressure only produces a sweeter flow of Godly character. This humbling process demands that we allow the crushing of our pride and our own plans, but the result will be vats that overflow with the life-giving fruit of the spirit to those around you.

When you’re being pressed, press back into God’s Presence. When the pressures of life are heavy, our response should be to honor God with the “firstfruit” of our humility and worship. As we return to the stronghold of hope in His Presence we find refuge in His love. God may not always remove the “cup” of the season, but just as He sent His angels to minister to Christ, He will send His strength to sustain you in the pressing.

New Wine, New Wineskins

We are expecting a harvest of New Wine, but we must face a hard truth: You cannot contain a new move of God with an old mindset.

In Matthew 9:17 Jesus gives us a chemical reality. As New Wine ferments, it releases gases; it expands. It is alive and it is moving. If you put that living, expanding flow into an old wineskin, the skin will shatter. Not because the skin is “bad” but because it is brittle. “Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Jesus wasn’t just talking about wine or leather in this verse; He’s talking about our capacity to expand. Old wineskins are often just “yesterday’s successful skins” that served their purpose in the last season, but they’ve become rigid. We have a tendency to get set in our ways, and we try to hold onto these old mindsets - I mean, they worked before, right? But growing the Kingdom requires flexibility and grace. If we try to force the New Wine of this harvest season into the rigid structures of our past, we won’t just lose the skin - we’ll spill the wine.

To be a “New Wineskin” means to stay supple. In the natural, old wineskins were actually rubbed with oil to make them soft again. To stay flexible as a church, we must be constantly infused with the Fresh Oil of the Holy Spirit. We must be more commited to the flow of his Presence than we are to the form of our Programs.

The Church is a living body for a living God, it’s not a monument to be preserved; it’s a movement to be propelled. From the early church of Acts through every great awakening, God has always looked for people who would stretch out their tents, rather than snap with stiffness.

Our vision here at Cross Creek Community Church is to be a Fountain of Living Water, Growing the Kingdom and Touching the World. It’s a vision of constant motion that requires a living, flexible vessel. Not an “anything goes” church with too much grace and not enough truth, but one that is balanced with both grace and truth, salt and light.

At the DOVE International Leadership Conference, Michael Brodeur from Destiny Finder pointed out seven action steps to help us “stretch our wineskins. “ He used Joshua 1-5 where the Israelites were crossing over the Jordan from the wilderness and into the promise as a blueprint for impacting the next generation.

Inauguration Joshua 1:5 God told Joshua, “as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.” We must accept this new season and the next generation with absolute certainty. God hasn’t left the building, He’s just changing His method. We must believe that God is with our young people just as powerfully as He was with our forefathers, even if their “move” looks different than the Moses era.

Preparation Joshua 1:10 Joshua didn’t wait for the walls to fall before he commanded the people to “Prepare provisions.” We cannot cruise into a conquest. We must prepare our hearts, our small groups, and our ministries. We have to clear out the “old” to make room for the “new.”

Exploration Joshua 2:1 “Joshua... sent out two men... to spy secretly, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went...” For us, this means “spying out” the needs of the generation behind us. Do we know what our youth and young adults are struggling with? Have we sat with them to hear their hearts? We cannot meet a need we haven’t explored. We need a blueprint for their reality, not our assumptions of it.

Sanctification Joshua 3:5-6 “And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.” This generation is drowning in Artificial Intelligence, false narratives, and digital deception. They won’t follow a program, but they will follow the Presence. They are looking for a people who actually carry the Ark - people whose faith is genuine and set apart. Not following the crowd, but only following the Presence of the Lord.

Commemoration in Joshua 4:1–3, and Joshua 4:20-24 Joshua set up twelve stones to remember what God had done. We do not leave our history behind; we carry our foundation into the future. Here at Cross Creek, in partnership with DOVE International, we have 12 Biblical Core Values. No matter what season we find ourselves in, or how much we are stretched, these stones stay. They are our identity, and they are found in our Member’s Handbook.

Consecration Joshua 5:2 we spoke about last week “the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives for yourself, and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time.” New seasons require new commitments. God is calling us to circumcise our hearts AGAIN! Discipleship isn’t a destination; it’s a life-long journey to become more like Christ. If the “End Time Harvest” of a billion souls is coming, like the Scriptures say it is, the old “Pastor does everything” model will break. We need every member to be a minister, and every believer to be a leader.

Consummation Joshua 5:13–14 When Joshua met the Commander of the Lord’s Army, he asked “Are You for us or them?” The Commander replied, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” He didn’t come to take sides; He came to take over. This isn’t about our personal agendas or “tit-for-tat” politics. This is about His Kingdom. We must align with the Commander, because our battle is not with flesh and blood...

Summary

Once Joshua and His men crossed over the Jordan, the moment they tasted the produce of Canaan, the manna ceased. Joshua 5:11–12 “And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain, on the very same day. Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year.” The old provision died so the new promise could live. The bread of the wilderness was no longer needed because the feast of the Promised Land had begun.

In the Wilderness, manna required zero effort but offered zero variety; it was the bread of “just enough.” Similarly, while the old wine of our past seasons may feel familiar, the New Wine carries the power for our present. This New Wine season demands a higher level of partnership with God - we can no longer simply gather provision off the ground.

This shift from the dusty paths of the wilderness to the overflowing vats of the harvest requires a transformation: we must move from being consumers of God’s miracles to co-laborers in His harvest. God is moving us beyond the manna that merely kept us alive, into the New Wine and Fresh Oil that brings life to generations!

As we conclude, I’m going to ask the Elders and the Intercessors to come forward.

Altar Ministry

(give time for altar ministry before closing the service)

Close

Let’s lay down the “old flames” of the past seasons and prepare our hearts to receive the overflow God has promised.

Pray (Stand)

Tithes & Offerings

Small group Questions

In your small groups this week:

Share a time in your life when a “pressing” season actually produced something beautiful.

Discuss what it would look like for you to move from member to minister.

Pray for one young person in your life you can “spy out” this week to see how you can better support them spiritually.

Benediction

May the Lord bless you and keep you as you turn your face toward Him. May He soften your heart with Fresh Oil, making you flexible and ready for the expansion of His Kingdom. Go forth now, carrying the New Wine of His Presence into every place your feet may tread. Receive the new generation with love, follow the commander with courage, and watch as your vats overflow with His goodness. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen