“Come and follow me, and I will transform you into men who catch people for God.”
God is calling us to follow Him into what He is birthing. He has no desire for us to be those who carve out our own plan.
His desire is for us to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus and to become the New Wine.
There will have to be some destruction of the old.
“The day of utter destruction will come to everything you admire here. It will all become a heap of rubble!”
But we with the anticipation and tenacity, of Anna who waited sixty plus years to being over eighty and Simeon as an old man who had faith in God’s promise, can be expectant now.
We can be focused, like the woman about to deliver her baby, on what God is birthing and be willing to wait in peace and joy fo it giving out total attention to its imminence.
New Wine is birthed after the crushing and pressing, yielding and purifying.
We go through similar in the surrendering and crucifying of ourselves and our other kingdoms on earth to become freed and true citizens of the kingdom of heaven on earth.
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,”
We stop imitating any other cultures then, get set free to represent God in following Jesus and in becoming like Jesus we can represent and exemplify Him to all others as Paul modelled by coming alongside all.
We have a new identity in our baptism in the Holy Spirit. We leave all other behind and rise in Jesus to a new Kingdom identity.
Our prejudices, preferences and prides are sacrificed and burnt off in our saying “Yes” We are a new creation and new wine.
The illustration shows the crushing and pressing fruit to make new wine, the spectrum of the Holy Spirit. The right hand of God. The light pushing back the darkness.
Seven Scriptures that come to mind:
“Jesus called out to them and said, “Come and follow me, and I will transform you into men who catch people for God.””Matthew 4:19 TPT
““The day of utter destruction will come to everything you admire here. It will all become a heap of rubble!””Luke 21:6 TPT
“But don’t worry. My grace will never desert you or depart from your life. Stand firm with patient endurance and you will find your souls’ deliverance.””Luke 21:18-19 TPT
““Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation”Luke 2:29-30 ESV
“Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.”Romans 12:2 TPT
“Since we are receiving our rights to an unshakable kingdom we should be extremely thankful and offer God the purest worship that delights his heart as we lay down our lives in absolute surrender, filled with awe.”Hebrews 12:28 TPT
“Now, even though I am free from obligations to others, I joyfully make myself a servant to all in order to win as many converts as possible. I became Jewish to the Jewish people in order to win them to the Messiah. I became like one under the law to gain the people who were stuck under the law, even though I myself am not under the law. And to those who are without the Jewish laws, I became like them, as one without the Jewish laws, in order to win them, although I’m not outside the law of God but under the law of Christ. I became “weak” to the weak to win the weak. I have adapted to the culture of every place I’ve gone so that I could more easily win people to Christ. I’ve done all this so that I would become God’s partner for the sake of the gospel.”1 Corinthians 9:19-23 TPT
The song. Nothing Else. Payton Allen
https://youtu.be/JJZjH6ucFig
Lessisgreater 