Sermon Recap
New Wineskins
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Joy Abad · February 9, 2025
“Our God, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you.”
Scripture Referenced
Recap
Tribe board member Joy Abad returned to teaching after a season away, opening with an honest word about walking through a hard year of loss and healing before continuing the church’s ongoing conversation about “new wineskins”, the capacity to recognize and receive what God is doing in a new way. She revisited Matthew 12, where Jesus’s disciples pick grain on the Sabbath and the Pharisees immediately accuse them of breaking the law, contrasting the Pharisees’ rigid suspicion with the disciples’ simple trust in Jesus even when something looked unfamiliar against what they’d always known.
Joy pushed the idea further into discernment, noting how easy it is today to encounter strange or even conspiratorial spiritual content online that sounds compelling but doesn’t match the character of God. She encouraged the church that real time spent with Jesus and his word builds the ability to recognize what’s actually from him versus what only wears the language of spirituality, describing that discernment as one of the practical marks of having a “new wineskin.”
Turning to 2 Chronicles 20, Joy walked through King Jehoshaphat’s response to news that a massive coalition of enemy armies was marching against Judah: rather than panic, he called the nation to fast and pray, and stood before the people to deliberately remember God’s past faithfulness before asking for help in the present crisis. She tied that pattern directly back to her own year, framing the practice of remembering what God has already done as the foundation for trusting him with what’s still unresolved.
Touch Points
- The disciples trusted Jesus even when something looked unfamiliar, while the Pharisees reacted with suspicion. Which response comes more naturally to you when God does something you don’t expect?
- Joy said real time with Jesus builds discernment to recognize what’s genuinely from him. How do you currently test new ideas or teaching against what you know of God’s character?
- Jehoshaphat’s first move facing an overwhelming threat was to remember God’s past faithfulness before asking for help. What’s something God has already done that you need to remember right now?
- Joy taught through a hard season of her own grief and healing. Is there an area of loss in your life where you’re still waiting to see how God will show up?