KEEP THE FIRE BURNING: A NEW WINE

-Reverend Amponsah

So these past couple of week, my pastor in Hatfield has been preaching with the theme “Keep the fire burning” and it has been a powerful and an eye opening weeks. Today’s message under this theme was “A New Wine”. I will share some of the things that I learnt from this message.

It was explained that in the olden days, wine was used for certain purposes such as :

-Keeping people from pain: When you are drunk, you forget about pain

-For parties and feast: when there was no wine, people viewed the party as no fun.

In John 2:1-12 talks about the wedding in Cana when Jesus turned water into wine. Pastor explained that the atmosphere changed and the joy went down causing commotion. Wine equals to joy. Joel 1:5 shows us that when there is not wine, there is no joy. The verse reads “Drunks, wake up and cry! All of you who drink wine, cry because your sweet wine is finished. You will not taste it again.” Personally, when I see people cry, it’s either they are hurt or upset, so for the Bible to say they should wake up and cry, it just emphasises how upset they must be without their wine.

Pastor said that when people drink, they become a different people. And he shared couple of stories but it shifted my mind to an incident that I experienced with my sister. We all went to a sleepover years ago and there was a lot of drinking and people got drunk but me and my sister were barely drunk even though we had a couple of drinks too. Everyone became a different person and people were even saying hurtful stuff to each other. They woke up the next day and they didn’t even remember what happened. They were someone different when they were drunk. This shows the power of getting drunk; you change.

Pastor was telling us today to be drunk. Yes, he told us to be drunk. But not physically drunk but spiritually. In Acts 2:1-4 talks about how the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles on the Day of Pentecost and they started speaking in tongues. In verse 5-11 talks about the reaction of people who saw them speaking in tongues. Acts 2:12-13 (NKJV) reads: “So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?” Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.” The new wine represents the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 5:18 “Don’t be drunk with wine, which will ruin your life, but be filled with the Spirit.”

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When you are drunk in the Holy Spirit, people will look at you and think you are mad. People will look at you and mock you. People will look at you and question where you are getting the confidence to speak. David was drunk in the Holy Spirit because imagine standing in front of a giant and just telling him you will kill him. You need to be drunk in the Spirit to do that as Pastor said. Have you seen a drunk person talking to the police? They have too much confident because they are not themselves. If they were in their normal state, they know to fear the police but they don’t. Pastor made it clear that that’s how confident we will be if we are drunk in the Holy Spirit. We will stand in front of our problem and command it. We will be in pain and forget that we are in pain because we are drunk in the Holy Spirit. We will move in ways the Holy Spirit wants us to move in without checking to see who is looking at us or what people are saying about us. When drunk people are drunk, they are not thinking of who is looking. They are just drunk.

Acts 26:24 says that “While Paul was still defending himself, Festus shouted, “Paul, you are out of your mind! Too much study has made you crazy”, Verse 25 Paul said, “Most Honourable Festus, I am not crazy. What I am saying is true. It all makes perfect sense.” People may look at you and think you are drunk but you yourself will know, yes I am drunk, but in the Holy Spirit. God says in Acts 2:17- “In the last days I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will have special dreams.” Pastor said you have to be drunk to see certain stuff, to hear certain things and to sometimes even prophesy. Come out of ourselves, out of your comfort zone, out of your fears and enter into a new realm. Isaiah 55:1 (NKJV) says “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.” You don’t have to pay to get drunk in the Spirit. You don’t have to be popular to get drunk in the Spirit. You don’t have to be smart to get drunk in the Spirit. This verse is telling us that all you need is commitment. All you need it taking a step. All you need is the desire to want to be drunk in the Spirit. Get drunk people. Get drunk with the new wine which is the Holy Spirit. God bless you and have a lovely week.

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Prayer: Father Lord we thank you for this day and for this word. We thank you for the grace and mercies you’ve shown us. We thank you for your servant that you spoke this word through. Father we pray and ask this evening for the strength to get drunk in the Spirit. Sometimes there are things that’s obstructing us from being drunk but today we pray that you remove these things and lead us into taking the new wine. Let us be drunk in you and let us have that confidence to step out drunk. We bless your name, this we ask in Jesus name, Amen.

• Reverend Amponsah’s church is based in Hatfield: “House On The Rock Ministry”. Opens every Fridays at 8:30pm-9:30pm for prayers and every Sundays at 10:00am-12pm. The address is: Lord Cecil Memorial Hall, French Horn Lane, Al10 8AQ. The doors are opened for everyone and I assure you, you won’t leave there the same way you came. Have a lovely week and hope to see you there soon.