FRIENDSHIP BAPTIST CHURCH

                       BROKEN BUT REMADE                     

Jerm. 18:1-10

The sins of Israel had caused them to stray from the true and living God.  God sent a prophet among His nation to give them a message, which can be found in Jerm. 6:16. They were told REST would come if they would only heed the message.  Unfortunately, they said, “We will not walk therein.”  How sad.

This is very much the situation we find America in today.  Nobody wants the “old paths.” 

In Jerm. 18, God instructed Jeremiah to go to a strange place, the potter’s house.  This story is found in chapters 18:1 through chapter 19:13.

As I write this message, the words of that blessed, old hymn come to mind:  “Have thine own way Lord, have thine own way, thou art the potter, I am the clay.  Mold me and make me after thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still.” 

What are some things we can learn from the visit to the potter’s house that will help us in 2007? 

I.    The potter has a design for every vessel.    

A. God knows us.  He knows every hair on our head and every thing we do.
     We aren’t here just to occupy space.  God has a plan for us.

          B.   God has a place of SERVICE for us also – a place where He will use us
              and help us to minister His grace to others.

          C.   God chose David even though in His supreme knowledge, He knew
              David would fall.  Even so, God REMADE David into a useful vessel.

 II.    The passion of the potter is the perfection of the vessel.

        A.   God is trying to mold us and make us into a good and useful vessel.

        B.   God’s passion is to transform us into the image of His Son (read Rom. 8:29).

        C.   God is still working on us.  Just as a recipe must have the right ingredients,
               so must we to be a good vessel (read Rom 8:28).

III.   When Jeremiah saw the clay, God showed him three things:       

A.   The clay is powerless to improve itself.  To make a vessel, the clay must
       remain in the hands of and under the control of the potter.  There’s no other
       way for the vessel to be made.

              Today, many people are trying to work out their own problems.  Why not turn
              to the Potter?   He knows the clay and its characteristics.

        B.  The clay must be submissive.  The people of Israel tried many things on their
              own.  All they needed to do was subject to the message from God.  Sadly,
              America is reaching this point also.  People don’t want to submit to God (read
              James 4:7, Heb. 13:7).  Wives don’t want to submit themselves to their
              husbands (read Eph. 5:22-24).

        C.  The clay is powerless to improve itself.

             (1)   Left to itself, the clay would be a lump of hard, useless clay.  What a
                    waste!       

     (2)  Only in the hands of the potter can the correct amount of water, pressure,
            and speed from the potter’s wheel be applied to transform a lump of clay
            into a beautiful, useful piece of pottery.

Remember that these beautiful pieces of pottery must go through the furnace, or kiln, to make them a finished product.  The glaze and fire make it even more attractive.

You may be broken today, but take heart; God can still use you and remake you into another vessel, as seemeth good to the potter (read Jerm. 18:4).

Get in to the Potter’s hands.  It may surprise you what God can make of a yielded piece of clay.

I hope that you know the Potter.  If not, you can learn how by simply clicking on “How to Be Saved.”

May God bless you.

                                    

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08/07