Sermon for Sept. 8, 2019

This morning I'll be reading Jeremiah chapter 18 verses 1 through 6.

And I'll be reading the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

Jeremiah was sent to the potter's house to learn a lesson from God. A lesson that we need to learn and remember as well.

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down at once to the potter’s house; there I will reveal My words to you.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, working away at the wheel. 4 But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed in the potter’s hand, so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do.

5 The word of the Lord came to me: 6 “House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay?”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel.

God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord, as we begin this morning, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.

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If you remember from last week,,, I told you that I didn't stop long enough to hear from the Lord about what scripture to use last Sunday until later in the week.

I knew that I needed to get started writing the sermon early since I had class Friday and Saturday of this week,,, so I needed to listen this week like I am supposed to do all the time,,, and it worked.

That's proven to work over and over too,,, if we just take the time,,, God still speaks today,,, but it requires us to do our part too!

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This week started off with questions about why we go through so much sometimes when we feel like we don't deserve it.

So many times we have things to hit us out of the blue and if we don't have the Lord on our side it can be impossible to take.

But even though we have the Lord on our side,,,, that doesn't mean that we don't have questions about the struggles that we have.

Questions of why this happens,,, why me,,, what caused this,,, you know,,, the questions just keep coming sometimes!

We know that we have to trust in the Lord.

I know that's the only thing that enabled me to get through everything that I went through when I lost my arm.

But sometimes our questions just don't have answers that can be understood now.

That's where faith comes in and knowing that God is in control even when we can't see how!

God wants us to know that we are still on the potter's wheel.

He's not finished with us,,, so we can't give up.

So lets take these scriptures and see how they can help us live a better and more faithful life as we continue our walk with God.

(3:33)

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How many times does our life,,, or the things that happen to us in our life,,, make us feel confused about our thoughts or actions?

During these trying times we must remember that even if there is something going on that we don't understand,,, we must trust God.

In this first verse God is speaking to Jeremiah.

The first thing that's required when we are facing anything trying,,, is a relationship with God,,, and that's what allows God to speak to Jeremiah in this verse.

Jeremiah began at an early age responding to the voice of God when He spoke.

If you remember from Sunday before last when God spoke to Jeremiah in chapter 1,,, Jeremiah was still young when God called him but he was obedient to God's call.

Over and over as you read Jeremiah,,, you notice the words,,, "This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord",,, "This is what the Lord said to me",,, This is what the Lord says",,, "Then the Lord said to me",,,,

This lets us know that Jeremiah was listening to God and he had a relationship with God that allowed him to hear when God spoke.

That's what we must do.

We must have a personal relationship that allows us to not only hear,,, but to be obedient to God's voice when He speaks.

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Verses 2 and 3 say: 2 “Go down at once to the potter’s house; there I will reveal My words to you.”3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, working away at the wheel.

If you notice,,, there was no hesitation when God spoke to Jeremiah.

He immediately went to the potter's house as God commanded him to do.

We must be obedient to God's word when He speaks.

There are times when we don't obey like we should.

We don't act immediately and that hurts our understanding or even makes it harder for us.

I started licensing school this week and it would have been easier if I had answered God's call earlier in my life.

I can't go back and redo what I've already done,,, no matter how much regret I have,,, so the important thing is for me to be obedient now.

And that might be where you are at.

You know that you have been ignoring God's call and you think that it's too late but it's only too late when we are called home before we are ready.

So be sure that you are obedient when you hear God's voice!

(5:19)

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Verse 4 says: 4 But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed in the potter’s hand, so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do.

Why doesn't the potter just throw the clay away when he finds the flaw in it and start over?

I don't know anything about making pots this way but it seems that if there is a defect in the clay then it will still be there when he begins the process again.

Now,,, I probably wouldn't be any better at pottery making than I am at mechanic work.

I'm the only person that I know,,, that can take a perfectly running automobile and mess it up.

Not long before Kaye and I got married,,, I bought a 1977 Buick Regal.

I drove it for several months without any problems.

One day I decided to change the spark plugs and wires,,, not because it was missing or there was anything wrong with it,,, they were just getting old.

It should be a simple tune up without any problems.

But,,, by the time I was finished,,, the car never ran the same again.

Anyway,,, The potter didn't throw the clay away because he knew that he could reuse it and turn it into something useful and beautiful like it was supposed to be to begin with.

(6:43)

Now there are two things that determine the outcome of the vessel that the potter is making.

One is the skill of the potter and the other is the condition of the clay that's being used in the process.

We can only assume that the potter is skilled because the actual verses concentrate on the fact that God is portrayed as the potter in this parable that Jeremiah used.

And since we know that God is more than qualified to do anything that He wants to do or needs to do,,, then the potter must not have been the problem.

So by that we assume that the problem was in the clay.

For whatever reason that day,,, the clay just wasn't performing correctly.

Maybe there was some impurities in the clay that needed to be removed.

Maybe there was some air bubbles that would make the product weak.

Maybe the clay was too wet or too dry.

We don’t know what the problem was; we only know that there was something wrong with the clay that would cause the finished product to be less than the potter had planned.

And its here that the potter had to make a decision.

He could throw the clay away and start over with a brand new piece of clay or he could choose to refine the piece of clay that he was working with.

And we know from what's written that he chose to reuse the piece of clay instead of throwing it away.

The potter didn't give up on the clay and continued working until he had made something useful out of it.

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This also helps to explain God's answer to Jeremiah in verses 5 and 6 where it says: 5 The word of the Lord came to me: 6 “House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay?”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel.

In this verse God is talking about Israel.

The people of Israel had been living their lives as if God doesn't exist.

They were continuously ignoring the prophets that God had sent to bring them the word of God.

God tells Jeremiah to tell the people of Israel that He would treat them like this potter treats his clay.

Just like the clay is in the potter's hand,,, and he does with it what he needs to do to make it turn out the way that he expects it to be,,, so is Israel in the hands of God.

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And,,, sooner or later,,, we will find ourselves on the potter's wheel.

(9:10)

There will be times when we will know why,,, like Israel should have known why that they were being thrown on the potters wheel by God.

Israel was being very stubborn at this point and they were refusing to listen to Jeremiah.

God gave them a chance to repent and change their ways but they refused.

It's the same way with us.

There are times that terrible things happen to us that God has allowed because we don't listen like we should.

Most of the times,,, we will either know or we can figure out why,,, if we ask God to reveal anything that we might not have realized and if it's revealed to us,,, then repent and God can help us quicker.

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But there are times when it seems like God is allowing us to go through things when we didn't do anything wrong.

We are going through our day to day routine when all of a sudden we are hit with a terrible tragedy.

And we just can't figure out why!

When something like this happens it can cause us to question God.

Make us wonder why God allows these things to happen to us.

But if you remember Job and everything that he went through,,, it helps us to remember that God doesn't always cause these things to happen.

But,,, for whatever reason,,, He does allow it and for reasons unknown most of the time.

For me,,, the best verses that helped me after my accident were and .

While I was in the hospital and recovering at home,,, I was searching for a reason as to why my accident occurred and I couldn't find a reason except for my negligence as I've told you before.

But these two verses helped me to live with my choices that led up to my accident and the days and weeks after.

says: We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.

This verse means that no matter what happens,,, no matter how bad,,, how messed up I made it or you made it,,, or anyone else made it,,, God is going to make something good come out of this for those of us that are called according to His purpose!

says: For as Heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

I can't begin to understand everything that God can,,, and,,, I don't know everything that God knows,,, or what He is doing that I don't know about,,, because I can't see everything that He can see!

So if I am this limited in my thinking or knowing,,, I have no choice but to rely on my faith in God,,, that He is in control and He is looking out for me as only He can!

In a sermon by Pastor Terry,,, he said that "just because we don’t understand doesn’t mean that there’s not an explanation."

"It only means that the created cannot always understand the Creator."

"The created cannot always see the areas in their lives that need improvement."

"The created cannot always see what lies in the future."

"The created cannot always understand how something bad today could turn out for good tomorrow."

"God is the potter and we are the clay."

"Therefore we must choose to trust in the goodness of God and seek His will as He reveals it."

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As I've looked back on my life,,, during the bad times are the times,,, that now looking back,,, I can see where God was working and doing things for me that I had no idea He was doing.

I'm sure that you can too!

It seems like that we must have the bad times so that we can appreciate the good times that much more.

Possibly,,, if we spent more time praising God for our good times than we do questioning God during our bad times,,, then,,, we would have more good times!

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So as we begin our week,,, I want us to remember that just as the potter can change and redo the clay to fit what he wants it to be,,, so can God make us into what He wants us to be.

We can't always see everything that God sees or know everything that God knows,,, so we just have to trust in Him as we are told to do,,, over and over again!

And realize that no matter what happens,,, God is in control.

Whatever this tragedy is,,, whether it's caused by something that we've done wrong,,, or it's just something that happened for no explanation,,, He will make something good out of it for those of us that are Christians.

Ever since the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden,,, we have had to deal with a messed up world.

God made this world perfect but we,,, as humans were given the ability of free will and that allowed bad choices to be made and sin to enter not only our lives but the world was changed for the worse also.

Many of the terrible things that happen are a direct result of sin and the terrible things that are wrong with the world that we live in today.

These are the things that we have to deal with and we must remember that God is available to help us if we call on Him.

And that personal relationship with God is required to do that and if you don't have that relationship,,, let me urge you today,,, to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior today.

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So as we sing our final hymn,,, let me remind you that the alter is always open,,,

If you feel God speaking to you,,, don't hesitate to come,,, maybe you just have questions,,, God will answer,,, you just have to ask Him,,, whatever the need may be,,,

As we sing the final hymn,,, come if needed!

Oakdale - Hymn Page -

Seminary - Hymn Page - 382

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