Introduction:
You
are the silly putty that God continues to make.
Scripture
Text:
Jer. 18:1 (KJS) 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
thee to hear my words. 3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and,
behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the
potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to
make [it]. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 6 O house of
Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the
clay [is] in the potter's hand, so [are] ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
Two
parts to the Story: The Potter and The Clay.
Have
you picked up your message from the Lord?
Where are you supposed to get it?
Down at the Potter's house. The
Potter was shaping a pot or bowl on the wheel. The pot was marred or broken.
The potter formed another pot shaping it as seemed best to him. Could
the Lord not do the same to us?
I. Living
God who is the Potter:
wants to change the clay to become the useful and beautiful vessel that
he wants it to be.
1.
Has a plan, vision, design, or picture of the final product of our lives.
He made a man named Adam out of the Red Clay. What
was I supposed to be?
Psalm 139:13 (NIV) For you
created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I
praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are
wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I
was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the
earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were
written in your book before one of them came to be.
2. Has a
Power to bring it to pass.
He put the clay on the wheel of life and began to spin it and mold it
with his hands. He places you on
the potter’s wheel of life and gives you a spin and then he presses in just
the right places until he has achieved the desired shape.
3.
Has a Patience and Persistence
to make the clay as he would like for it to be.
The
Story of the Teacup.
A grandfather and a grandmother are in a gift shop looking for something to
give their granddaughter for her birthday. Suddenly the grandmother spots a
beautiful teacup.
"Look at this lovely cup", she says to her husband.
He picks it up and says, "You're right!
This is one of the loveliest teacups I have ever seen."
At that
point something remarkable happened - something that could only happen in a
children's book. The teacup says
to the grandparents, "Thank you for the compliment, but I wasn’t always
beautiful."
Instead
of being surprised that the cup can talk, the grandfather and grandmother ask
it, "What do you mean when you say you weren't always beautiful?"
"Well",
says the teacup, "once I was just an ugly, soggy lump of clay.
But one day some man with dirty wet hands threw me on a wheel.
Then he started turning me around and around until I got so dizzy I
couldn't see straight. 'Stop!
Stop!', I cried.
"But the man
with the wet hands said, 'Not Yet!'
Then he started to poke me and punch me until I hurt all over. 'Stop!
Stop!', I cried. But the man said
'Not Yet'.
"Finally
he did stop. But then he did
something much worse. He put me
into a furnace. I got hotter and
hotter until I couldn't stand it. 'Stop!
Stop!', I cried. But the man said
'Not Yet'.
"Finally
when I thought I was going to burn up the man took me out of the furnace.
Then some short lady began to paint me.
The fumes got so bad that they made me feel sick.
"Stop, stop!', I cried.
'Not Yet!' said the lady. "Finally she did stop.
But then she gave me back to the man again and he put me back into that
awful furnace. This time
it
was hotter than before. 'Stop!
Stop!', I cried. But the
man said 'Not Yet'.
"Finally he took me out of the furnace
and let me cool. When I was completely cool a pretty lady put me on this
shelf, next to this mirror. "When
I looked at myself in the mirror, I was amazed.
I could not believe what I saw. I
was no longer ugly, soggy,
and dirty.
I was beautiful, firm, and clean.
I cried for joy. It was
then I realized that all the pain was worthwhile.
Without it I would still be an ugly, soggy lump of wet clay. It was then that all the pain took on meaning for me - it had
passed - but the beauty it brought has remained."
4.
Has a Passion for the putty or the clay.
He loves the putty so that with his loving touch the putty responds to
the touch so that the putty/clay comes out in the most beautiful design that
could be.. He remakes the putty
in the image that he desires. v. 6
What can the Lord do with us?
What will we let the Lord do with us?
Change or die? Is
change an option? We are “Vessels of Change.”
Will we be transformed by the hand of the Lord? We need the touch of the Master’s hand. To Change is inevitable but to grow is intentional.
II. Silly, Living Putty or Human Beings which are the
Clay.
1. Has a
will /Has beliefs and decisions
about their life and about the living God. This life changing decisions have
shaped their lives dependent on what they believe.
Adamic nature or Red Clay that is the stuff that we are made of.
Will these be changed or added unto?
We are moral creatures that can choose for ourselves.
2. Has
the Water of life that has
shaped their life depending on what they have been led to believe.
Water makes us soft and moldable in the hands of the master Potter the
living God. Let the Spirit of the Lord make us soft and responsive to the
touch.
3.
Has to
be broken and molded by the living God to become the vessel that we could be. Humility that allows the Lord to work in our lives.
Our opportunities can be missed.
Opportunities Missed
There was a very cautious man; who never laughed or
played; He never risked, he never tried, He never sang or prayed. And when he one day passed away
His
insurance was denied; For since he never really lived, They claimed he never
died! Have you lived the life?
Or has it all been a game? Do
you really believe?
Will
we put ourselves in the hands of the living God?
We must be broken.