On an overhead slide draw four symbols a star, a plus sign, a circle and a square. Then ask your audience to pick one of the symbols and then share which sign they picked with the person sitting closest to them. Then interpret the signs, “Research shows that if you picked the square you are a workaholic. If you picked the circle you are highly stressed. If you picked the plus sign it means you love work but are stressed while you are there. If you picked the star you are having delusions of grandeur.”
How many of you want God’s best for your life?
(You don’t have to raise your hands – but I want you to think about these questions)
How many of you are willing to be molded by God to become exactly what He wants you to be?
How many of you would rather mold yourself and become exactly what you want to be?
I think it’s safe to say that the majority of us want to become everything God wants us to be, the problem is that we fall short of God’s perfect plan for our lives.
Too often we take matters into our own hands and mess up God’s plan for us. We end up settling for God’s permissive will rather than His perfect will.
Jer 18:1-12
18:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 "Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message." 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
5 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.
11 "Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, `This is what the LORD says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’ 12 But they will reply, `It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.’" NIV
- Jeremiah was obedient - "Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message." So I went down to the potter’s house
- Jeremiah observes the potter (give potter details)
- Vessel production = God’s plan for your life
o Lesser quality clay = lesser quality vessel
o How’s your clay quality?
o What is keeping you from being good clay?
- Israelites refused to become good clay – “But they will reply, `It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.”
o Israel thought the temple was a failsafe rabbit’s foot. They participated in idol worship and then went to the temple to worship God. The epitomy of hypocracy.
o Like clay, if they failed to be molded into a useful vessel in God’s hands then they were risking hardening into a useless lump that would be discarded.
o Today’s backslidden Christians are the same:
§ They think the church will always be there.
§ Thessalonians - 1 Thess 4:13-5:3
§ 13 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.
§ 1 Thessalonians 5
§ 5:1 Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
A lot of people are going to be in for a big surprise. Things are heating up in the Middle East kettle – I wouldn’t be surprised to see the antichrist arrive on the scene within our lifetimes.
2 Thess 2:1-4
2:1 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
In light of today’s sermon, you should be asking yourself-How can I improve my clay quality? How can I position myself to be molded by God to become exactly what He wants me to be?
Pastor Twamley’s QuickStart recipe for good clay:
1. Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal to you areas of your life – impurities in your life - that you need to repent of.
2. You need to take action and remove the impurities from your life. (throw away the junk)
3. You need to start living according to Biblical principles.
4. You need to do what is right and learn to trust God.
5. Spend time with God the Holy Spirit – fellowship with him.
Psalm 84:10-12 (Here’s a promise you can take to the bank)
A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked. For the Lord God is our light and protector. He gives us grace and glory. No good thing will the Lord withhold from those who do what is right. O Lord Almighty, happy are those who trust in you.
