The Potter's House

Title: The Potter’s House

Text: Jer 18:1-6; Isa 64:8

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Pray!!!

Introduction:

- I found this story in Readers Digest that will direct us in were we are going this morning:

An individual awoke one morning to find a puddle of water in the middle of his king-size waterbed. In order to fix the puncture, he rolled the heavy mattress outdoors and filled it with more water so he could locate the leak more easily. The enormous bag of water was impossible to control and began rolling on the hilly terrain. He tried to hold it back, but it headed downhill and landed in a clump of bushes that poked it full of holes. Disgusted, the individual threw out the waterbed frame and moved a standard bed into his room. The next morning, he awoke to find a puddle of water in the middle of the new bed. The upstairs bathroom had a leaky drain.

- When we look into our text this morning we see that Israel was in a sinful position.

- They were a nation who didn’t throw away the mattress and frame but rather had abandoned God.

- Sin ruled throughout the land, people were disobedient to God and were not willing to listen to the plans that God had for them.

- This is when God gave Jeremiah the words in our text this morning to give to the nation of Israel in hopes they would repent and submit to His Lordship.

(Read Text At This Point)

- Now when I read this passage earlier this week, God revealed some characteristics of Himself towards us.

Point 1: God Is Always Working In Our Lives (Vs 3)

Lam 4:2 says, “How the precious sons of Zion, once worth their weight in gold, are now considered as pots of clay, the work of a potter’s hands.”

Isa 29:16 says, “You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, He did not make me? Can the pot say of the potter, He knows nothing.”

- I love this story that I found that will help illustrate what I am saying:

I wonder what would happen if we applied the same standards of loyalty to our Christian activities that we expect from other areas of our lives?

If your car starts once every three tries, is it reliable? If the postman skipped delivery every Monday and Thursday, is he trustworthy? If you don’t go to work once or twice a month, are you a reliable employee? If your fridge stops working for a day or two every now and then, do you say, “Oh well, it work most of the time.”? If your water heater provides an icy cold shower every now and then, is it dependable? If you skipped a couple of electricity bill payments do you think Western Power would mind? If you fail to worship God one or two Sundays a month, would you expect to be called a faithful Christian?

We expect loyalty and reliability from things and other people - isn’t it reasonable then that God just might expect the same from us.

- You see church this morning God is working in your life to make us more reliable with Him.

- He is making us more faithful to Him then the things of this world.

- And so when God works on our lives as the potter works on the clay, the molding stage is beginning to take shape.

- Sometimes that hurts, we can either yield to it or choose to ignore it.

Point 2: God Has A Plan For Our Lives. (Vs 4)

- Not only is God working in us to make us more like Him, or more faithful to Him, He has a plan in molding us.

- Now what is God’s plan for us.

- Well it can be a variety of things, for example:

- It’s in God’s plan that we build a church, that we make disciples, that we grow and become more mature, and that we are a witness for Him.

- God’s plan is also very specific, for example:

- It was God’s plan for me to be a Pastor and that one day I would pastor this church.

- That’s what God’s plan for my life was.

- God also has a plan for you, it maybe more simple, it maybe more complex, but rest assured God wants to reveal His plan for you.

Rom 9:21 says, “Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?”

Isa 45:9 says, “Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, What are you making? Does you work say, He has no hands?”