Good Morning folks,
Thanks for joining me today. Grab your Tea or better yet go grab some gogo juice (coffee), your bible, and come sit awhile with me and Jesus.

I've prayed already but you might want to stop now and talk with HIM, just sharing your thoughts and dreams and thanking HIM for giving you one more sunrise, one more pain to know for sure your alive, for giving you one more breath to experience His awesome love and creation. I've asked Him to show me what He wants me to learn and do today; what do you need to ask of Him?

I've been reading through the gospel of Mark and so I am going to meditate on the next passage I am reading. You may have a different way or system that you do your so go ahead and read your passage.

I have a bunch of questions I begin to review the passage I read with, so that I can understand it better and begin to apply the principles to my life that I have learned from that passage. You may have a study you are already doing, but if you do not you may try this. Review the passage you have read all the 6 questions words: What, Why, How, When, Who, Where. Keep a note book and record what you learn from this. You will be amazed after a week how much you will have learned from your reading that week.

This morning I have read :
21 "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results.
22 "No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins." (Mar 2:21-22 NAU)

The greater context is Mark 2:13-22.

What was the reason for this statement? Jesus is spending time eating and enjoying himself with the friends of Matthew who were tax collectors and sinners.

Who is involved in this conversation? Jesus is the one who gives this answer to the question directing it at the Pharisees. The scribes of the pharisees who were scrutinizing and criticizing Jesus and his disciples for their completely unorthodox religious behavior.

Why did Jesus answer the question this way? Jesus answered the question this way because the Jewish spiritual leaders and law-setters had established rules and regulations that made it impossible for the average person, the sinner, and the extreme case of wickedness(the tax collector) to get forgiveness and have a relationship with God. Why did the scribes of the pharisees ask the disciples and Jesus this question? They asked this question because they had built a society of religious duty and pious behavior over the past 400 years since God had last spoken. Their religious traditions and status and life stile were being directly assaulted by Jesus behavior as a Rabbi. A Rabbi was a respected religious teacher of the law. A Rabbi was a member of the pharisees.

Not every time as your reading will you use each of the questions sometimes you will get very short specific answers such as:

When did this happen? The evening the Jesus called Matthew to be a disciple.

Where did this interaction take place? This all took place at Matthew's house. He threw a dinner party to have all of his friends meet this Jesus who changed his life.

Many times after going through the questions more questions are raised.

What difference did it make if one Rabbi didn't follow the traditions? It caused a great stir and much dissension because tradition and social order were all that held the pharisees world together. If someone bucked the system and you could get the teaching of the law and get to God another way then there really was no use for the pharisees at all and their life, livelihood, popularity, social order was crushed and destroyed. It scared them that they would lose everything.

How does this statement answer the pharisees question? Jesus explained that if you are going to fix a problem you don't make it worse by adding new laws. You create a whole new way of dealing with the problem.

What is the problem then? The problem was how do we get rid of sin and have a relationship with God? The pharisees would just make a new law or rule or regulation and the only thing that would do would be to cause people to just rip away from anything to do with God because they were already frustrated and alienated from HIM because of all the traditions the pharisees enforced. Jesus said this isn't working and I don't want to make it impossible and estroy any hope of people even trying to get forgiveness or having a relationship with Me and the Father. So Jesus made a complete new and different way that met these needs to accomplish what was supposed to be happening in the first place.

This brings me to where I begin to try to apply this to my life so that I can use it today and from now on. I ask the SO WHAT question. So what, what do I need to do with this information now that I know this?
#1 - Am I following any traditions that have nothing to do with what scripture tells me I need to do to get forgiveness and have a relationship with God?
#2 - Am I creating any traditions for other people to have to follow that are unscriptural?
#3 - Am I critical of other people, other churches because they are reaching people for Christ or seem to be growing and they don't do it MY WAY? But it is still scriptural.
#4 - Am I scared of obeying God and stepping out in faith because I'm afraid of what others might say to me or think of me?
#5 - Is God challenging me to begin to reevaluate how we DO church and asking me to make a new "wineskin" for a new generation so that others find forgiveness and a relationship with God without all the traditions my generation has built?

I usually spend some more time in prayer asking the Lord to help implement this information and these changes into my life because these are revolutionary and I do not have the ability or the power to do it.

I hope if you are reading this you do not just focus on the HOW TO of doing a quiet time. I pray that you actually are also wrestling with the text as I have this morning and are really asking that SO WHAT question. That you are reevaluating what the scriptures tells us is vitally important to forgiveness of sin and a relationship with God, and what is irrelevant. The praying to cut the waste and focus on the meat and heart of the matter. I am praying that you will join me and making a new "WINESKIN" to reach this generation for Christ and open the door for their healing, their forgiveness, their hope, and their relationship with God.

If you still have questions or thoughts you would like to share keep them positive and appropriate but ask and share away.

Praying for power and creativity through the Holy Spirit in you -

Pastor G