A teaching from the Holy Spirit came on this morning. The One that we call “New Wine” has asked, “Do you drink wine in or pour it over yourself? Do you drink wine in or bathe in it?” If the Spirit is poured over you or if you bathe in the Spirit, your spirit may speak in an unknown dialect or speak in a known dialect words that may not be understood. But if you drink the Spirit and take it into your body, the Spirit will change you. The change will be seen in your actions – the fruit of the Spirit will show. You will live in such a way to teach others of the Spirit. If you minister to someone and they hate you, they hate our Lord. If you minister to someone and they love you, they love our Lord. If someone ministers to you the Truth, you will love them. If someone ministers to you with a lie, you will also love them. Love those that hate you and do good to those that despise and use you. These things are not the habits of man, but of the Holy Spirit.

If one seeks wisdom to prove his brother or sister wrong, he seeks in vain. If one seeks wisdom to save their own soul; the one that seeks to save their own life shall forfeit it. That is not to say that they will not obtain eternal life, but that at some point they must lay down their own life and pick up the life of our Lord. The blood poured over us stains us (shows us our sins); it is the blood taken within that changes us into garments of purity. Jesus did not asked His followers to ware the wine, but He said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” When we ask for protection of a non-believer we ask that the blood of Jesus cover them; should we do the same for a believer? Isn’t the blood that protects the same blood that is in the cup and taken into the believer? Isn’t the blood that covers our sin drank from the cup? If one seeks wisdom to know the things of God, the one must be willing to live the things of God within God and with God within.

If I should gain the whole world and have not love, what have I? Can even the whole world save my soul? What is it to gain the world and forfeit true life? Can wisdom save me? Can only the knowledge of God make me whole? If I know every word in the Bible and can make fools of everyone with the words, can I save my own soul? If I know to do good and do not (what is written in the book of James) have I increased the kingdom of God? Then knowledge and wisdom can condemn me, but cannot save me. Would it even be wisdom to know and not do? Let me love the one that lies and teach by actions rather than to hate and forfeit life.

Can a seed be planted in the barn? Shouldn’t a seed be planted into soil? We are the soil that the seed of life is planted into. Is that soil in the floor of the barn or in a field? Should we be planted in the floor of a barn or in a field? Can we be an example to the world sitting in a pew? Can we be an example to the world if we only plant seed in the barn floor? The barn is a safe place to store seed until it is time to plant. The barn is a safe place for sheep, but they must someday be taken into the fields and fed with fresh grass and watered with fresh water. It is good to be safe and at peace in our Lord, but we must take our Lord within and carry Him into a world that needs Him. The amour of God will protect us, but it is the Word of God within us that will change us.

© 2005 Tim D. Coulter Sr.