Synopsis of Sermon 6/11/23

Delivered by Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III

Jeremiah 18:1-6 NKJV 
The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. 4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. 
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!

1. INTRODUCTION 
2. How we view ourselves has a lot to do with the people we’re around during the informative years of our lives.  We are a result of what we were exposed to and the relationships we have had both horizontally and vertically.
3. Relationships play a significant role in our lives. Some relationships we’ve been part of, we had no control over being in them. You just happen to find yourself in them. Who we are friends with, who we marry, or who we hang out with, matters.
4. When you have a relationship with God, it transcends human relationships. God made us in His image. When you mature you not only realize who God is, you realize who you are.

Story:

There is a story about an Eagle that grew up in a Chicken Coop, with other Chickens. He walked like a chicken and acted like a Chicken, but finally a day came where he realized he wasn’t a chicken.

All this time, the Eagle tries to be a chicken; because this was all he had known. He thought the Chicken Coop was all there was in life for him.  Eventually he realized that the Chicken Coop was too small for him. Even the chickens realized that the Eagle was different.  The Eagle realized that he was made to fly!

People look at you in this manner, because you no longer fit. You try to be hip, you try to be gangster, you try to be street, but everyone knows that you don’t fit. They know who and what you really are, even if you don’t know it yet.

• God will do whatever he has to do, to mold you.
• Todays scripture comes to us from Jeremiah. Here is some context:
  • Jeremiah was born North of Jerusalem. While he is growing up, the Syrian empire was in control.
  • During the time of this story, Nineveh (the place Jonah didn’t want to preach) had begun to fall, because of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar is in charge at this point in time.
  • God tells Jeremiah to prophesy to these folk. Jeremiah wants to do things right. He takes his call seriously, but the people on the other hand, are not taking Jeremiah seriously.  As a result, Jeremiah begins to complain to God about it

In the text, we see Jeremiah wrestling with God over his task. In the midst of his frustration, he receives a revelation for his human situation. Jeremiah begins to see God as a Potter.

1. THERE IS POTENTIAL IN THE CLAY 
2. Jeremiah sees a revelation of how God deals with his people. God is the Potter, and we are the clay.
3. Know that the clay will become whatever is in the mind of the Potter.

1. Remember You Are Dust 
2. Clay is nothing more than an accumulation of dust. No matter what we accomplish or who we become, we’re nothing more than dressed up dust.
   1. Gen 3:19 says “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.””- We are dust, and we never need to lose sight of our dust-ness.
3. When God molds us, he starts with the very essence of who we are, flaws and all.

• There Is Destiny on You 
• In the text, the Potter took the clay and worked with it, even though it was marred. He kept working on it because he saw something in it!
• While we are struggling to remember how good God has been to us, we have to remember the scripture that says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV
• The reason you endured what you did before coming to the Potter, was because of your destiny.

1. THE PROCESS OF BEING CRAFTED 
   
   
2. We are a work in process. We have not arrived.
3. The Stages of the Potter is interesting. Here are some of them:

1. God Begins with The End in Mind 
2. You have to look at the end sometimes, to learn what it takes to accomplish the goal. Jeremiah 1:5 NKJV  says ““Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”” – Everything God allows, you have to accept. It is part of your becoming.
3. The Potter never puts a lump of clay on the wheel without having something in mind for it. While God is working on you, he already has something in mind for you.
4. God’s hands might be painful, but what he has in mind is worth it. God always has you on his mind. Our live isppam in his hands.

• God Is at Work in All of It 
• As you were maturing during the process, the Potter was working at the wheel. He never takes his hand off the wheel.
• There were some tough seasons, but God was still at work. The more God is at work, the more spinning on the wheel you will experience.
• Before you came to God, you were just a lump of clay. He put you on the wheel and started spinning you. This is why it seems like it’s been one thing after another, happening in your life.
• Praise God you stayed on the wheel. Your life is not out of control, it is spinning in control on the wheel.
  • Everyone who came in and out of your life, was in control. They might not be under your control, but they were under the control of the Potter. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”Romans 8:28 NKJV
• YOU CAN BE IN HIS PRESENCE AND STILL BE CRACKED 
• This reveals a lesson. None of us have arrived, but we are becoming.
• Under His covering, the clay was still marred, but the Potter didn’t just throw the clay away. He just remade it, new again, a new vessel.

1. He Knows What Clay Is Capable of 
2. God, the Potter, knows how fragile you are. He knows your issues and He knows what he has to deal with concerning you. The clay has flaws, but the Potter believes in it’s (our) potential.
3. Your Imperfections Will Never Cause Him to Let You Go 
4. God never took his hands off of you. His grace and mercy says, he won’t let us go.
5. I WILL PRAISE HIM THAT MY CRACKS WERE CORRECTED 

1. He Believed Beyond my Blemish
2. He made what was pleasing in his eyes.
3. God kept working with us and while working with us:

1. He sheltered us – He could have thrown us away, but he was committed to correcting our cracks.

2. He Salvaged us – God looked beyond our faults. This is why you can’t judge people. We are here because God salvaged us.

• He Restored Me as If It Never Happened
• Restored Vision – He restored us to a point where it looks like it never happened.
• Restored My Value – He comes in, never takes his hand off you, and when He’s done, it’s like it never happened. Now the same clay that was with flaw, is now a beautiful vessel. The Potter didn’t allow my flaw to hurt my value.
• Restored me to a place of victory. – What do you do when what you see in your hands is not what you have seen in your head? What do you do when that job is not what you’ve seen in your head? What do you do when that kid doesn’t look like what you’ve seen in your head? What do you do when that relationship doesn’t look like what you’ve seen in your head?
  • God made it(us) into another. Can you imagine what the angels said while watching God’s actions concerning Mankind? God didn’t throw mankind away. He just made it again, another vessel!
• We throw away flawed things, but God remakes it again.  Jer 18:4 says – 4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. – What do you do with used clay. It seems like it would be better to throw it away and start again. Only a Master can take marred clay and make it another.
• The same vessel that didn’t look like what the Potter had in mind was made again, another Vessel!