The Complete Wineskin: Restructuring the Church for the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit-REVISED EDITION

FOURTH-REVISED EDITION- A tight and unmarked copy-" God is pouring out the Holy Spirit and our wineskins must be changed to handle the new wine. How are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers going to rise up and work together? Where do small group meetings fit? Will the Church come together in unity? How does the anointing of God work and what is your role? This book puts into words what you have been sensing in your spirit. (Eberle's best-seller, translated in many languages, distributed worldwide. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spIlled out, and the skins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins (Luke 5:37-38) Whenever the Holy Spirit fills people with new wine, the structure or organization in which they function must change. Old wineskins rip. New wineskins must be used to hold the additional life and power of God. We have seen this principle in operation throughout the history of the Church. When Martin Luther received revelation from the Holy Spirit concerning faith and grace, the established church that day was ripped in two and a new denomination under Luther was born. When John Wesley preached with the fire of the Spirit, a new structure, now known as the Methodist denomination, had to be formed. The same process has occurred again and again as great men or women ministered under a fresh anointing of God's Spirit. And, of course, we had seen how thousands of churches have formed over the last fifty years as members received a baptism of the Holy Spirit with various manifestations. A new wineskin formed each time new wine was poured in. God is pouring new wine into us. Christians worldwide have been crying out to God for a fresh outpouring of His Spirit. Our Lord has never failed His Church. Repeatedly, He has brought powerful spiritual awakenings. Many believe that the last outpouring of God's Spirit promised in the Bible (Joel 2:28-29) will soon occur. The time for God to move is at hand. Therefore, we should expect our present wineskins to rip. Jesus taught that it is impossible to pour new wine into an old wineskin without ripping it. There can be no mighty spiritual awakening in our day without a great shaking of our Church organizations, leaders, and structures. If you are looking for the Second Coming of Jesus, or if you are praying to God to move upon your church, your city, your local schools, your family, or your own heart, then the first thing you must look for is a new wineskin. How will the present wineskin of the Church be changed? We cannot expect to know the same power of the Holy Spirit that the New Testament believers experienced unless we have wineskins similar to theirs. One of the major changes will have to do with the full operation of what we call the five ministry gifts: apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher (Eph. 4:11). Many Christians have thought that the apostle and prophets were only for the New Testament times, but that is wrong. Ephesians 4:11-13 tells us that all five of these gifts were given by God to the Church until we all attain the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. The Church will never reach its fullness nor any form of unity until all five ministry gifts are functioning together in the Body of Christ. Today, God is raising up leaders who have these gifts. The Church is now undergoing a major reformation in its structure that will enable it to handle a great outpouring of God's Spirit. This is the reason I have written this book. I want to share with you some of the ways the present organization of the Church is ripping and the new wineskin is being formed. We will look first at the ministry gifts and at other leadership positions."-Minor wear on cover.