Ancient Wine New Wineskins

Exploring the roots of resurgent evangelicalism in the United States, Stephen Warner tells the story of one small-town church from 1959 to 1982, the Presbyterian Church of Mendocino, California. This book chronicles the actions of the men and women who struggled with and against one another to shape their church.

A seasoned theologian and homiletician join hands to show pastors how to preach doctrinally rich sermons in an engaging manner.

This trailblazing volume juxtaposes traditions of faith from the Old Testament with themes of communion in the early church to produce rich new understandings of the Eucharist for today's worshipers. In a vivid and inviting style, Jon Berquist moves from the elements of the meal to the people who partake to the God who invites, producing fresh perspectives all along the way. Clergy and laity alike can enlarge their interpretation of communion by including motifs from the Old Testament.

Today many believers have been led astray and are in bondage, because they have been fed on the old wine - the traditions of men that have accumulated in Christendom through twenty centuries, and that have been added to God's Word, or that have replaced God's Word. When the new wine is offered to them, they say, "The old is good enough" (Luke 5:39). This they remain in spiritual stagnation, year after year. Most Christians are unwilling to give up the traditions of their elders, even when they see these to be clearly contrary to the teaching of God's Word. We need to come back to the faith that was revealed by God to His holy apostles and prophets, as recorded in the New Testament Scriptures, if we are to fulfil God's purpose in our day and age. To come back to that, we must be willing to do violence to every tradition of man that is contrary to God's Word (Matthew 11:12). This book will change your life and your ministry, because it will question many 'sacred' ideas that you have held that have no foundation in God's Word. That in turn will save you from regret and loss when you stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of your life to Him. He who has an open mind and a bold heart, let him read on...

Jesus the Jewish Theologian establishes Jesus firmly within the context of first-century Judaism and shows how understanding Jesus' Jewishness is crucial for interpreting the New Testament and for understanding the nature of Christian faith. Insights from Jewish literature, archeology, and tradition help modern readers place Jesus within his original context. Particular attention is given to the Jewish roots of Jesus' teaching concerning the kingdom of God.

While speaking out against the status quo of his day, Jesus referred to himself and his message as new wine poured out into new wineskins. Today consecrated life is living a time of deep change and is discovering the "new wine": Where shall we put this wine, in old wineskins or in new wineskins? These guidelines test the wineskins made to preserve the new wines that the Spirit continues to give to his Church, inciting us to initiate changes through concrete action in the short and long term.It is an exercise in "ecclesial discernment" through which consecrated men and women are called to undergo new changes so that ideals and doctrine become real in our lives: systems, structures, diaconia, styles, relationships and language. These guidelines are the product of what emerged from the events held during the Year of Consecrated Life.