Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

New Wine

In the crushing, in the pressing You are making new wine!

What a picture…NEW WINE!!! Don’t we need new wine, a new move of God, an outpouring of His Spirit, an awakening, revival!!! Yes God, give us new wine!

Don’t we need the new wine of God, a new move, an outpouring of Holy Spirit, an awakening, a revival in our marriages, in our familes, in our finances, in our careers, in our hurts, and in our habits, and in our hangups.

Yes God, give us new wine!

But let’s pay close attention to the words…it says

“In the crushing...

...In the pressing...”

You are making new wine!

The grapes can’t stay intact if wine is to be produced…the way wine is made is that all the grapes are pressed and crushed, broken…in biblical times people would get into a winepress and crush the grapes with their feet, or later times a beam-press would be used to press down on the grapes in the winepress or vat, which in turn releases the grape juice…PRESSURE IS APPLIED!!!

THIS IS INTENTIONAL!!!

The grapes have no choice here…IT IS THE PROCESS!!!

There are times when we choose transformation and change, BUT then there are times when God works transformation in us, and it’s not our choosing :)

You see God is not going to come down and transform us, but here’s what He often does, He uses life’s circumstances, the pressure and challenge of hardship and trial, and dissapointment, and closed doors, and defeat to change us...

You see God often uses life’s circumstances, the pressure and challenge of hardship and trial, and dissapointment, and closed doors, and defeat to change us...

A sunken area (Jgs 6:11) into which the grape harvest was thrown, to be trodden with bare feet amid shouts of joy and traditional vintage worksongs (Jer 48:33; cf.

Is 65:8).

You see it is brokeness, a brokeness to ourselves, a broken before God, a total and utter dependancy on Him that brings forth wine, or transformation, brings forth the anointing, brings forth a move of God, both individually and collectively.

And as individuals

Wine A Symbol Of Transformation.

Wine traditionally is the central symbol for transformation.

... The process of winemaking is that of transformation, a result of breaking wholes into parts and integrating parts into wholes, grapes into wine.

A sunken area (Jgs 6:11) into which the grape harvest was thrown, to be trodden with bare feet amid shouts of joy and traditional vintage worksongs (Jer 48:33; cf.

Is 65:8).

In ancient times wine was a prized trade item, but more importantly it was considered to have medicinal benefit.

In the temple, wine was used for the sick and the poor.

In the parable of the good Samaritan in , the bible says the Samaritan used his own olive oil and wine to apply to the wounds of the injured man he encounterd on the way to Jericho.

The young boy who is suffering physical, emotional and sexual abuse

The homeless woman on the street

The

What about the wounded and injured in our world?

The injured and the wounded are waiting...

Give examples

But before we all rush out to BWS, Thirsty Camel or Dan Murphy’s states

m

It’s the symbolism of wine and the process of wine making that we’re talking about…wine representing the transformative outpouring of Holy Spirit in every aspect of our personal lives, impacting peoples and cultures around us...

This is what the author of Hebrews is communicating to his audience in Hebrews chapter 12. They’re facing hardship, they find themselves in the winepress as it were, and are facing resistance from the governing authorities, they’re suffering persecution.

And so he encourages them to:

Hold in view the great cloud of witnesses, and their stories of persecution and struggle, as encouragement of God’s faithfulness

Rid themselves of every weight and run the race

Fix their eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of faith

who endured the cross

who endured hostility

so they won’t grow weary and give up

Scipture Reading

Let’s pick the story up at verse 4 of Hebrews chapter 12

Heb 12:

What's the back story here?

What the back story here?

Start with the back story...

It’s so easy to be overwhelmed, and to lose perspective when we are in the midst of crisis, easy to be enveloped in our circumstances, the hopelessness of tragedy, or dissapointment.

When everything around us seems to be falling apart, marriage, family, career, business, friendships, finances.

We lose sight of purpose and direction....

Like a pilot navigating his aircraft through a storm, we no longer see the horison or we are no longer able to gauge where we are in relation to the ground, and we begin to trust our own subjective physical and emotional sensations.

Any pilot will tell you in those situations that it is important to trust the instruments.

Trust the intrumentation dashboard i.e. the artificial horizon, turn and bank indicator, altimeter, tachometer, airspeed indicator, gyroscopic compass, and radio beam receivers -- were all reliable and can be trusted.

This is exactly what the author is doing - he is pointing his audience back to the instruction manual of life!!!

He reminds them:

Whereas chapter 12 starts out in verse 1 with an athletic metaphor of a race “...run with patient endurance the race that has been set before us.”

Here the imagery changes from a race to a boxing/wrestling...facing an opponent.

An event that combined wrestling and boxing with kicking, strangling, and twisting limbs.

Imagery that paints the picture of a physical encounter, and the truth of the situation in this chapter is that some of the members of the community in the book of Hebrews have experienced physical abuse, suffered violence, BUT NOT martyrdom like the some of the saints in or Jesus on the cross for our sins.

The sin referred to here points to those who’s opposing Christianity, who’s opposing the community of saints in Rome.

an event that combined wrestling and boxing with kicking, strangling, and twisting limbs

What about our Christianity here in Australia?

What adversity do we face in our own lives?

And so in light of these circumstances, the author starts pointing the community of believers, who find themselves embroyled in persecution and hardship, back to the instruction manual!

Have you forgotten...

Have the right perspective

He tells them to:

Have you lost your perspective???

Talk about our move to Australia - how the door closed for a job opportunity in Sydney, which left us hanging for three months…we wanted to go back and ask for our old jobs, then God said for us to wait, that He is in control and that He is calling us to Australia.

Remember

Heb

Have you lost your perspective???

Have you forgotten????

That God is dealing with you as sons and daughters?

That sonship and discipline/suffering is connected?

Have you forgotten?

The reality is the path of life is not always smooth and easy!

Our walk of faith is not always easy.

Jesus says that we will have trouble in this life...

john 16:

Ps Phil talked about the marathon or long distance runner last week, and they train themselves bearing in mind that there’s a very good chance that they’ll hit a mental wall in their run, where the race seems impossible, too long, too hard, when their bodies will feel like quiting, but every runner also knows if they just keeping putting one foot in front of the other, that a biochemical phenomenon called the second wind will kick in…and it’s like they get their energy back and they’re refreshed and can run the rest of their race well...

Ps Phil talked about the marathon or long distance runner last week, and they train themselves bearing in mind that there’s a very good chance that they’ll hit a mental wall in their run, where the race seems impossible, too long, too hard, when their bodies will feel like quiting, but every runner also knows if they just keeping putting one foot in front of the other, that a biochemical phenomenon called the second wind will kick in…and it’s like they get their energy back and they’re refreshed and can run the rest of their race well...

Remember...

BUT CHRISTIANS ARE NOT MEANT TO SUFFER HARDSHIP!!! DIDN’T WE BECOME CHRISTIANS TO ESCAPE HARDSHIP!!!

Ps Phil talked about the marathon or long distance runner last week, and they train themselves bearing in mind that there’s a very good chance that they’ll hit a mental wall in their run, where the race seems impossible, too long, too hard, when their bodies will feel like quiting, but every runner also knows if they just keeping putting one foot in front of the other, that a biochemical phenomenon called the second wind will kick in…and it’s like they get their energy back and they’re refreshed and can run the rest of their race well...

And it’s like they get their energy back and they’re refreshed and can run the rest of their race well

I believe God is going to give some people a second wind today…stength renewed, hope restored, joy overflowing, peace and rest in every circumnstance...

“…which instructs you as SONS/DAUGHTERS?”

That God is dealing with you as sons and daughters?

In verse verse 5-6 of this chapter, the author is qouting a passage in Proverbs

In verse verse 5-6 of this chapter, the author is qouting a passage in Proverbs

That God is at work in you

That God is at work in you, even in the midst of hardship and trials

That God is at work in you

Heb

Prov 3: