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"Here in Jeremiah chapter 18. \n\nThe Lord calls Jeremiah to go visit the House of the Potter and it causes me to wonder and consider. \n\nI wonder if you have ever heard the story of Kutol. \n\nAnybody familiar with the story of? \n\nKutol. It&#039;s a company that exists back east in Ohio. It was founded in the early 1900s, right around 1912, I believe. \n\nAnd it was a company that manufactured cleaning products. \n\nBut it had its share of struggles over the next few decades after it began, and so in the 1930s it was really struggling, and it came up with a a cleaning material for wallpaper. \n\nAnd I guess in those days, this was before my time. \n\nHarvey, you might be able to tell us about it. \n\nThey used coal for heating inside of homes, and so there would be all of this soot and things that would be kind of stuck to the wall as a result. \n\nAnd so they figured out a way and they produce material so that. \n\nThey could. \n\nPeople could clean their walls at home and clean off all that gunk and soot and stuff that had been going on. \n\nBut as. \n\nDifferent kinds of heating options were available to homes. \n\nAnd I&#039;m not going to try to pretend like I know what those different kinds are, but different kinds became available, and so people moved away from coal and the product that really kind of was the lifeblood of this company could toll they were. \n\nSeeing it decline and decline in decline, and they were in a serious predicament and on the verge of going out of business. \n\nAnd there&#039;s it was a family business. \n\nThere was all kinds of, you know, family things that were happening at the time. \n\nTime. And so as they saw it decline, it was in the early 1950s, late 1940s that they were on the verge of bankruptcy and they were scrambling to find something else, some way to save the company. \n\nAnd what they found was a school teacher. \n\nAnd the school teacher was using their product in a way that they had not anticipated. \n\nAgain, the company name is Kutol and in the 40s and 50s as they were about to go under, they found this school teacher who is using their product to inside the school teach kids how to. \n\nKind of work with clay, but it was in a softer form and it became what you and I know today. \n\nI&#039;m sure you can name it quite clearly. \n\nUh, play-doh. \n\nThis was originally invented by this company to clean the walls, but that was declining. \n\nThe demand for that was declining. \n\nAnd so they pivoted and it&#039;s a a common case to study as a as you look at businesses and the idea of pivoting it was a. \n\nStrategic move for the company to change direction as a result of changing demands and a pivot is a a dramatic shift in the direction of a company to you know work on and focus on something else and and so it actually became the manufacturer. \n\nYear of play DoH now it still exists today this company and they still make cleaning products and so this division was split off and later on sold to Hasbro and you don&#039;t need all those details but. \n\nI find the history interesting here. \n\nThe change and and how it started out one way, but was used in a completely different way and became popular in a completely different way and saved the company. \n\nIt&#039;s amazing to think about all of the intricacies of those things and it really relates to what we consider tonight. \n\nHere in Jeremiah Chapter 18 as we look at the illustration of the Potter. \n\nAnd here God says to Jeremiah, I want you to go watch something. \n\nI want you to go visualize something and have a clear picture of something in your head. \n\nSo go to the Potter house and just sit there for a little bit and see what&#039;s going on. \n\nTake in and visualize and understand what it is that you&#039;re seeing so that then I can give you. \n\nA message. \n\nAnd in this message, God is essentially saying, summarizing a bit. \n\nI am the Potter, I&#039;m the Play-doh master. \n\nI&#039;m the one who&#039;s in control and forming things and shaping things. \n\nAnd looking at his people, he says you are the clay. \n\nI&#039;m the Potter, you are the clay. \n\nI&#039;ve titled the message this evening as we. \n\nConsider this idea. \n\nGod claims full rights over your life. \n\nIn God&#039;s. \n\nStatement and declaration that he is the Potter and that his people are the clay. \n\nHe is making a claim and declaring here in this chapter that he has full right to do what he thinks is best. \n\nIn verse 6 here of Jeremiah 18, he addresses the House of Israel, he says. \n\nOh, House of Israel, can I not do with you as this Potter says the Lord. Look, as the clay is in the Potter&#039;s hand, so are you in my hand or House of Israel? The Potter gets to sit down at the Potter&#039;s wheel. \n\nAnd form and fashion what he wants to form in fashion and the Potter has full rights. \n\nTo form and fashion a lump of clay into whatever form that he desires, a cup, a bowl of vase, some other utensil, or some other vessel. \n\nHe he&#039;s able to develop something according to whatever he wants, and God here is asserting those kinds of rights. \n\nOver his people, over his creation as well, and so we&#039;re going to consider this in four points this evening to help us. \n\nRecognize the rights that God has in our lives and really to help us, hopefully. \n\nSurrender to those rights. \n\nPoint #1 this evening, we&#039;re not going to really tie all of these two verses. So point number one is God has the right to shape your life. \n\nGod has the right to shape your life, verse 3 again says. \n\nThen I went down to the Potters House and there he was making something at the wheel. \n\nJeremiah goes down to the Potter house, and there is the Potter. \n\nThere&#039;s clay on the wheel, the water is being added and the wheel is spinning and there is some kind of shape. \n\nBeing formed and fashioned and that lump of clay is taking shape and becoming something specific as the Potter. \n\nApplies his will to that lump of clay. \n\nI went down to the Potters House, he said. \n\nAnd there he was making something. \n\nAt the wheel. \n\nWhat was he making? \n\nHe was making something. \n\nHe was not negotiating with the clay saying, OK, clay, I think you would really make a great vessel of this. \n\nType, but I&#039;d really love to hear your thoughts. \n\nWhat do you think you should become and what what is it that you desire to? \n\nWhat is it that you&#039;ve always dreamed of becoming? \n\nLump of clay? \n\nLike what is it that you desire that Jeremiah did not hear a negotiation, he did not hear any kind of petitioning of the clay? \n\nTo the Potter. \n\nHe went and there was the Potter making something. \n\nJeremiah doesn&#039;t even know what he&#039;s making. \n\nIt&#039;s just something. \n\nSomething at the wheel. \n\nHe&#039;s making it. \n\nOnly the Potter knows because he hasn&#039;t disclosed it, but it&#039;s in his mind, it&#039;s in his heart and it&#039;s what he desires and that&#039;s what he is working on and fashioning there. \n\nOn the will. \n\nOn the wheel, not the will. \n\nFashioning his will on the wheel with the clay. \n\nNow again in verse 6, God says to the House of Israel. \n\nDon&#039;t I have this right? \n\nCan I not do this with you as this Potter? \n\nI am the Potter, you are the clay, and I have the right. \n\nGod asserts the right. \n\nTo form and fashion, not petition and say, here&#039;s what I&#039;m thinking. \n\nLet&#039;s negotiate a little bit. \n\nLet&#039;s try to, you know, understand and figure out, you know, maybe we can come to some kind of agreement together. \n\nGod is declaring I have the right. \n\nTo bring about life and circumstances to right, raise up nations and cast them down, I have the the right to arrange the world and creation. \n\nIn the way that I please, Pastor Warren Wiersbe says the interpretation of the image was national, relating to the House of Israel, but the application was individual, calling for a response from the people of Judah and Jerusalem. \n\nIt also calls for a personal response. \n\nFrom us. \n\nGod is directly addressing the nation of Judah, the Nation of Israel. \n\nAnd he&#039;s addressing the circumstances that the nation is in. \n\nIn this illustration of the Potter and the clay. \n\nBut as Warren Wisby says, the application was individual. \n\nHe calls the individuals to react and respond to this illustration that God is providing. \n\nAnd so we can also take this illustration and understand there is a national interpretation of this even for us today. \n\nAnd looking at our nation, that God is the Potter and the United States is the clay, and God has the rights to raise it up and to cast it down and to raise up other nations and to change circumstances and to bring heatwaves or storms. \n\nOr, you know, whatever God has the right to bring about. \n\nWhatever he desires. \n\nUpon our nation but. \n\nEven as God deals with a nation as a whole, he&#039;s always interested in the individuals, and so God would look to us and. \n\nSay I&#039;m the. \n\nPotter, you individually are the clay. \n\nAnd there is much to glean from this illustration for us. \n\nIf you think about pottery today, pottery is not so much the way that it was for Jeremiah and Jeremiah&#039;s day. \n\nAnd I don&#039;t just mean the technology involved, but pottery was the way of life back then because that&#039;s how they got all their dishes. \n\nAnd you know, any kind of vessel that they needed, they would go to the Potter and so every community. \n\nWould have a Potter. We don&#039;t really have that around in our society today, that there is pottery more as an artistic thing, more as a hobby type thing, but not as a necessity of life as it was in Jeremiah&#039;s day, and pottery as an art. \n\nKind of lends to another interesting idea an understanding of what God is talking about here, and that is the idea of creative rights. \n\nThere is what is called creative rights that forms of art artistic expressions. \n\nCannot just be taken by others and used however they see fit that there is a an inherent ownership that we provide in our society for expressions of art. \n\nSo if I take a really fantastic sunset photo. \n\nHarvey can&#039;t take that photo. \n\nAnd now go and sell it without my permission and become a millionaire for his, you know, luxurious retirement life off of my photo without my permission. \n\nThe very fact that I took the photo, that I&#039;m the operator who saw it, took the opportunity and took snapped the photo. \n\nThat gives me creative. \n\nRight. \n\nAnd if I take a lump of clay and I form something really amazing. \n\nOut of it, which would never happen. \n\nBut if that were the case. \n\nRick could not take that and go sell it for a fortune and say this was, you know, hand formed by Jerry Simmons and everybody goes, whoa, that&#039;s worth $0.25. \n\nAnd so Rick can&#039;t do that without my permission. \n\nI have the rights over that. \n\nThat is illegal for him to take that and begin to. \n\nUse it in a way that I have not given permission for. \n\nIn a similar way, picturing God as the Potter and us as the clay, we need to understand that God has creative rights over us. \n\nThat we are his creation from the very beginning. \n\nWe came into existence at his will and by his power. \n\nAnd he has worked and formed and shaped. \n\nI&#039;ve been involved in our lives. \n\nSo that here we are today, the product of his creativity. \n\nAnd we need to understand that God has the right to shape my life because I&#039;m his creative work. \n\nAnd I don&#039;t get to just do whatever I want to do or think whatever I want to think or go wherever I want to go, that I need to recognize the right that God has in my life to form and shape, to bring about circumstances, to change geography or or or situations God has. \n\nFull creative rights. \n\nIn our lives. \n\nIn Ephesians, chapter 2. \n\nPaul tells us by Grace you have been saved through faith. \n\nAnd that not of yourselves. \n\nIt is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. \n\nFor we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for Good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. \n\nHere, the apostle Paul is reminding us of how salvation works. \n\nThat we have spiritual life by the grace of God, and it&#039;s never been our efforts. \n\nWe&#039;ve never earned or deserved the work that God has done in our lives. \n\nBut but he explains that at the end there in verse 10 he says for we are his workmanship, which is an artistic word. \n\nIt&#039;s a it&#039;s. \n\nA work of art. \n\nMany times people refer to it or translate it as masterpiece. \n\nWe are his masterpiece. \n\nPoema where his poem another kind of artistic expression. \n\nWe are his pottery, where his poem were his painting. \n\nWhere were his artistic creation? \n\nAnd created uniquely and distinctly in Christ Jesus. \n\nFor good works. \n\nTo have a life, to have the shape of our life prepared beforehand, that we should walk in the things that got us prepared for us. \n\nAnd so there is immense creativity that God has. \n\nDemonstrated in our lives, in our physical lives and our very existence. \n\nAnd our spiritual lives and the path set before us. \n\nGod has the right to shape your life. \n\nHe has the right to shape the way we seek him, the way we serve him, the way that we walk with him, the way that we share him. \n\nThe way that we know him. \n\nHe has the right. \n\nFull rights over our lives asserted by the Lord. \n\nAnd so there&#039;s such a thing as creative rights, but there&#039;s also another type of rights that God can assert over us, and that is ownership rights. \n\nSomething has been purchased. \n\nIf you get a motion alerts in the middle. \n\nOf the night. \n\nAnd you go out to your. \n\nDriveway and you find me borrowing your car. \n\nYou will very quickly assert your ownership rights, right that that you have the right to say no, you can&#039;t use my car. \n\nNow if I am trying to get into your vehicle and you come out and. \n\nYou say, no, that&#039;s not permissible, you can&#039;t do that. \n\nAnd if I say, well, I just, I&#039;m not trying to take your car, I&#039;m just trying to upgrade your stereo. \n\nYou probably wouldn&#039;t believe me, but even if that was the truth, even if that was my intentions, you as the owner can say no, thank you. \n\nYou don&#039;t have the right to open my car and upgrade my stereo. \n\nYou need to move along. \n\nYou need to go away. \n\nYou have ownership rights. \n\nIf I come and I say, listen, I just want. \n\nTo wash your car every night. \n\nYou have ownership rights and you could say this is my property. \n\nWhat you&#039;re standing on this is my vehicle. \n\nNo, you you don&#039;t get to wash my car every day. \n\nYou don&#039;t get to upgrade my stereo. \n\nYou don&#039;t get to borrow my car unless I give you permission. \n\nUnless I want you to. \n\nI own it. \n\nAnd if I go and I take a bat to your headlights. \n\nYou assert your ownership and you say you can&#039;t do that. \n\nWhether it&#039;s good or bad, you have rights over what I do towards your vehicle. \n\nIn a similar way, God has ownership rights. \n\nOver us Peter tells us in first Peter, chapter one, if you call on the father who without without partiality judges each. \n\nI&#039;m sorry, judges. \n\nAccording to each one work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear. \n\nKnowing that you are not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ. \n\nAs of a lamb without blemish and without spot. \n\nYou were redeemed, Peter says. \n\nAnd so that. \n\nShould change the way that you think, and it should change the way that you behave. \n\nIt should impact your life because. \n\nYou were not redeemed. \n\nYou were not purchased with corruptible things, with worthless things. \n\nYou were purchased with the precious blood of Christ. \n\nGod has ownership rights as creator, but he also has ownership rights and that he has shed his blood. \n\nTo give us life. \n\nAnd so we&#039;ve been redeemed. \n\nAnd Peter says that ought to impact the way that you live, so that you live in fear. \n\nNot fear is in running from God. \n\nNot fear is in cowering in a corner and never doing anything. \n\nBut fear in recognizing I belong to God and I don&#039;t have his permission to do whatever I want to do. \n\nI don&#039;t have his permission to take any course that I want to take. \n\nI need to make sure that I stay in the path. \n\nThat he has for me. \n\nGod has the right to shape your life, to say who you hang out with, to see what kind of vocabulary you have, to see how you spend your time, what movies you watch, what career you have, what school you go to, what church you go to, where in the world you live. \n\nGod has full rights. \n\nTo your life. \n\nTo direct, to sheep, to guide. \n\nHe has creative rights. \n\nHe has ownership rights. \n\nOver each of us. \n\nAnd that&#039;s important because well. \n\nThe illustration begins to break down as you think about the Potter and the clay. \n\nThe illustration begins to break down. \n\nEvery illustration does this, even the illustrations that God provides that that they&#039;re not exactly perfect and they&#039;re not meant to match up one to one exactly through every, you know, imaginable scene in scenario. \n\nWhere the Potter and the clay illustration breaks down is the clay has no will. \n\nThe clay. \n\nIs not autonomous. \n\nAnd doesn&#039;t make decisions, it just sits there. \n\nAnd is impacted by the Potter. \n\nAs we apply this to us, we need to recognize and understand God has given us will. \n\nHe&#039;s given us choice. \n\nAnd a lot of freedom. \n\nTo choose and exercise our will, even if it&#039;s contrary to and against. \n\nThe will of God. \n\nAnd So what this means for us, this picture for us, really demonstrates the amount of surrender that we need to have when it comes to the Lord, that we would be more and more like a lump of clay. \n\nThat is fully surrendered. \n\nThe lump of clay cannot. \n\nChoose to just get off the wheel. \n\nIt just doesn&#039;t have that capacity. \n\nBut God has given us the capacity to get off the wheel to some degree, right, because God is God and he could still set us on and and shape our life, and he retains the rights to do that, but at the same time he has given us the opportunity to resist his will. \n\nTo ignore his will, to fight against his will, or to willingly follow his will. \n\nAnd so we all exercise our will. \n\nAnd to varying degrees. \n\nWe exercise our will. \n\nIn compliance with the will of God or in Defiance. \n\nOf the will of God. \n\nAnd that&#039;s why Peter says we need to conduct our time here in fear. \n\nSurrendering to the will of God and and submitting to what he has, finding out, discovering Paul tells us in Romans chapter 12. \n\nTo to find out, learn to approve what is the perfect and acceptable will of God that there is to be this part that we have of seeking out and and discovering. \n\nThe shape that God wants our life to take so that we can. \n\nCollaborate with him and be part of that willingly. \n\nAnd joyfully. \n\nHave goals and desires in our lives. \n\nWe have things that we want to see happen. \n\nThings that we would be so excited. \n\nIf they were to unfold in the way that we imagine and we desire. \n\nAnd sometimes. \n\nThose desires. \n\nAre not aligned with God&#039;s desires. \n\nAnd doesn&#039;t mean that we don&#039;t plan. \n\nThat the scriptures. \n\nTalk about the importance of planning and looking ahead, but. \n\nIt&#039;s always in submission. \n\nTo what God desires for us, James tells us in James Chapter 4. \n\nHe says come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit, whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. \n\nFor what is your life? \n\nIt is even a vapor that appears for a little time and. \n\nThen vanishes away. \n\nInstead, you ought to say, if the Lord Wills, we shall live and do this or that. \n\nNow, James here is not suggesting. \n\nJust insert these magic words to all of your plans and then everything is great. \n\nWhat he&#039;s saying is you should find out if it&#039;s the Lord&#039;s will, and you should be genuinely seeking the Lord if this is your will, here&#039;s my plan. \n\nI&#039;m going to go here and I&#039;m going to make this money and then I&#039;m going to come back over here and I&#039;m going to spend that money. \n\nAnd then I&#039;m going to go this way and enjoy that money and and here&#039;s my plans. \n\nBut Lord. \n\nNot my will be done, but your will be done. \n\nThat&#039;s the idea that. \n\nHe is portraying here and. \n\nSo as we plan the next phase of our life. \n\nWe need to understand, God continues to say, I hold that right. \n\nAlso, when do you get to retire? \n\nPick on you for a moment. \n\nIn October, she retires and she has plans for that retirement phase of her life, right? \n\nBut make sure that you say if the Lord Wills and understand that God has the right to shape your life. \n\nRemember our brother Rick here. \n\nHe had some goals and desires at his retirement also, and very quickly. \n\nThat phase of his life was not what he. \n\nPlanned right? \n\nIt was very different. \n\nGod holds the rights to shape our life and we might think the next season is the season that we&#039;re looking forward to and we want. \n\nAnd it might be in a completely different season. \n\nAnd we need to let God to not resist God, to to submit to God and surrender to God. \n\nHe is the Potter and we are the clay. \n\nHe has full rights. \n\nTo shape our life, to direct our lives, to move us, to shake us, to shape us however he sees fit. \n\nWell, moving on to the second point to consider as we look at Jeremiah Chapter 18 in this illustration of the Potter and the clay. \n\nPoint #2 God has the right to reshape your life. \n\nGod has the right to reshape your life. \n\nCheck out verse 4. \n\nAnd the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand. \n\nOf the Potter. \n\nSo he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the Potter to make. \n\nAs Jeremiah is watching the Potter work, he&#039;s forming his fashioning the clays, moving around and taking different shapes, and and coming together and. \n\nAt some point the Potter recognizes this clay. \n\nIs not good for the vessel that I was making. \n\nThis clay maybe is not the right consistency. \n\nMaybe there is some Pebble or something in the clay that causes it to be deformed and so the previous plan is shelved. \n\nThis lump of clay cannot be that vessel. \n\nIt needs to be something else. \n\nAnd so he made it again. \n\nHe reshaped it. \n\nBrought it back down to a lump from whatever form it had taken, and now. \n\nRe started reshaped. \n\nTo a form that seemed good to the Potter again, as we consider this illustration. \n\nAnd applying it to us as individuals, applying it to God, working in our lives. \n\nHe is the Potter and I am the clay. \n\nWe understand right off the bat that if anything is marred, it is not. \n\nBecause of God. \n\nBut God is perfect and holy in all of his ways. \n\nHe makes no mistakes. \n\nSo the mooring of the vessel is an issue, not? \n\nWith the Potter. \n\nBut of the Kleinow, here, again, is when the illustrations perhaps breakdown because, well, if we go look at a Potter. \n\nThe Potters that we visits are not going to be perfect and so they very well could make mistakes and then change course and shape something different because they couldn&#039;t pull off the original intention that they wanted, right? \n\nBut of course, God. \n\nIs not like that. \n\nHe is perfect. \n\nAnd so it&#039;s not a mistake. \n\nOf the Potter. \n\nLooking at the Lord. \n\nThat is the issue here in verse 4. \n\nIt is some. \n\nFailure, some deficiency. \n\nSome deficits in the clay. \n\nThat caused a reshaping to be necessary. \n\nAnd of course, this accurately pictures us. \n\nAs clay, yes, we understand we are marred. \n\nThere is issues. \n\nWe have a sinful nature and we fall short and so. \n\nIt&#039;s not hard to imagine God having plans for us and purposes for us that we are just not able to fulfill because of our failures, because of our weaknesses. \n\nBecause we are marred. \n\nAs clay. \n\nBut the encouraging thing to look at is we consider this illustration is that God doesn&#039;t give up. \n\nWhen plan A doesn&#039;t work. \n\nThe Potter doesn&#039;t just say this lump of clay is worthless. \n\nJust toss it out. \n\nBring in a better one, never working with that clay again. \n\nGod doesn&#039;t give up when plan A doesn&#039;t work, when his ideal for an individual isn&#039;t fulfilled because of the unwillingness of the individual. \n\nHe doesn&#039;t say, well, that&#039;s it. \n\nI&#039;m never working with that person again. \n\nHe says OK. \n\nGot a little resistance here that that lump is not supposed to be there. \n\nBut all is not lost. \n\nI can. \n\nTake a new course and reshape this lump of clay still into something great. \n\nStill into something useful and and I&#039;m able to work with this in a way that will still ultimately be good. \n\nAnd here the Lord is through this illustration, reminding us we do have a say. \n\nWe don&#039;t get to negotiate and call the shots and demand things of God. \n\nBut we do get the opportunity to work with him. \n\nOr work against him. \n\nJump down for a moment 2 verses 7 through 10 in verse seven. \n\nIt says the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a Kingdom to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it. \n\nIf that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster. \n\nThat I thought to bring upon it. \n\nSo here God gives an example. \n\nHe says. \n\nLike I&#039;m the Potter, you&#039;re. \n\nThe clay in verse 6. \n\nAnd that means I retain the right? \n\nTo do something different. \n\nSo when I say concerning a nation that it is going to be destroyed. \n\nWhen I announce judgment on a nation, if that nation repents and turns from its evil, God says, I reserve the right. \n\nTo show mercy and not bring the judgment that I had initially announced on it. \n\nThis is not God being wishy washy. \n\nThis is not God going back on his word. \n\nThis is God saying I. \n\nRetain the right to show mercy when people repent. \n\nI hold that right and I I maintain that right? \n\nWill show mercy. \n\nEven though I have announced judgment, and of course the classic example of that is the city of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. \n\nWhen Jonah is sent. \n\nTo preach 40 days and Nineveh will be destroyed. \n\nAnd the people turn from their evil, and God relents. \n\nFrom the disaster that he had said. \n\nHe would bring. \n\nGod retains the right to show mercy. \n\nAnd so the Potter says I&#039;m going to destroy you. \n\nBut Clay, you have a choice. \n\nYou have a say, and if you submit to the Potters will. \n\nThe partner retains the right to say, oh, actually, you know what? \n\nThis clay is actually more moldable than I was initially saying, and so I can shape it into what I wanted to shape it into. \n\nYou ever say you get to choose, you get to be part of the work of God, even if God has announced judgment. \n\nWell, looking at verse 9 and 10, it says and the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a Kingdom to build and to plant it. \n\nIf it does evil in my sight, so that it does not obey my voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I. \n\nSaid I would benefit it. \n\nSo God says it works both ways. \n\nIf I said nation, I&#039;m going to build you and you&#039;re going to be established and you are going to be prominent in all the earth, but then that nation does evil. \n\nGod is. \n\nTrue to his. \n\nWord, but he&#039;s never trapped by his word. \n\nSo that people could say, alright, you promise, so we can go and live however we want to live and we can do whatever evil we want to do. \n\nAnd you&#039;re stuck, Lord, because you promised foolishly. \n\nNow the clay is never going to be able. \n\nTo say that to the Potter. \n\nEven at a national scale, God says look. \n\nI retain the right. \n\nIf you change, I can change. \n\nAnd if you are no longer a nation that&#039;s worthy to build and to plan to to be prominent, then I&#039;m going to relent concerning that good. \n\nThat I declared. \n\nAnd there will be judgment instead. \n\nSo God retains that, right? \n\nHe says. \n\nCan reshape your life. \n\nWe were headed on this path. \n\nWe were headed, not on that course. \n\nDepending on your participation with him. \n\nYou get to have a say in the course that it takes. \n\nAnd you&#039;re never in a position where you can kind of force God against his will. \n\nHe retains the right. \n\nTo choose. \n\nAnd so it&#039;s important for us to understand the picture here. \n\nWe&#039;re Plato. \n\nThe masters hands. \n\nAnd God can take this Play-doh and he can form and fashion something amazing out of it, like a green dinosaur. \n\nAnd if we&#039;re willing and if we work with him and are submitted to him, he can build this. \n\nBut if we&#039;re resisting and finds that the green clay is just not working so well, the, you know, green Play-doh. \n\nI can&#039;t really fashion it the way that I want. \n\nIt&#039;s resisting. \n\nIt&#039;s it&#039;s rebelling against me. \n\nWell, maybe I&#039;ll just make a pig then, and so. \n\nPlan B. \n\nLet&#039;s take a different shape. \n\nBut if that&#039;s not really working out and there&#039;s some resistance there, well, maybe I&#039;ll just kind of make a crude figure, you know, nothing real fancy or just, you know, just kind of very basic shape because that&#039;s all this lump of clay is willing to surrender and willing to allow. \n\nAnd if that still fails, well, maybe I&#039;ll just make a big slug. \n\nAnd that you know that&#039;ll. \n\nJust be a simple way to use this clay in a way that is still something, but it&#039;s not what I originally designed. \n\nIt&#039;s not what I intended. \n\nI wanted stuff that really cool this big green dinosaur. \n\nBut you know, OK, all the clay is willing to allow is. \n\nThe form of a slug, and so God says. \n\nI retain the. \n\nRight, you resist. \n\nYou don&#039;t want to be the dinosaur you don&#039;t want. \n\nTo allow me. \n\nTo shape you the way that I want and and have you know all of these intricacies and details and be part of this plan in this way. \n\nWell, there&#039;s a plan. \n\nYou get to have a say plan A or Plan B depends on my submission to God. \n\nAnd some of us are on plan Q because we have just refused and God is taking us down another course. \n\nAnd then we resist and refuse, and got us taking us down another course, and we resist and refuse. \n\nGod has the right to. \n\nReshape all along the way. \n\nTo take us on a new course. \n\nBased on our response to him and our responsiveness to his word and his work in our Lives, Pastor David Guzik says the main lesson is that God is free to respond to his people according to their own moral conduct and choices, and previous promises do not restrict the exercise of his. \n\nCorrection or justice? \n\nAgain, God is true to his word, but he&#039;s never trapped by his word. \n\nAnd so we get the opportunity to participate with God or to resist God, and he will reshape our lives accordingly as he sees fit. \n\nA really good example. \n\nOf this is King Saul in the book of First Samuel. \n\nKing Saul was with his army. \n\nThe Philistines were coming against them. \n\nThere was a set time that God had established where Samuel would meet him and they would offer a sacrifice to the Lord. \n\nAnd then they would go to battle. \n\nBut Saul couldn&#039;t wait that time. \n\nHe saw the situation unfolding. \n\nThe Philistines were getting closer, his army was getting scared and scattering, and so he just thought, I have to take matters into my own hands. \n\nAnd he offered to sacrifice himself without waiting for the time and without waiting for Samuel. \n\nAnd Samuel tells him in first Samuel, chapter 13, verse 13. \n\nSamuel says to Saul, you have done foolishly. \n\nYou have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God which he commanded you. \n\nFor now the Lord would have established your Kingdom over Israel forever. \n\nBut now your Kingdom shall not. \n\nThe Lord has sought for himself a man after his own heart. \n\nAnd the Lord has commanded him to be Commander. \n\nOver his people. \n\nBecause you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. \n\nThere&#039;s an alternative timeline here. \n\nGod would have established your Kingdom, King Saul, and instead of talking about the throne of David thousands of years later like we do, we would have been talking about the Messiah, you know, on the throne of King Saul. \n\nThe Lord would have established your Kingdom over all Israel forever. \n\nBut you were a hard lump of clay, and you resisted, and you refused. \n\nYou allowed the stress and pressure of the situation to move you out of the plan of God, out of the will of God. \n\nAnd so you resisted what he said, and so you&#039;ve changed the course, moving from plan A to Plan B can&#039;t go. \n\nDown that path any longer? \n\nAnd so God has chosen David, a man after his own heart. \n\nTo be the king after you. \n\nNow this really isn&#039;t a surprise. \n\nSaul really resisted God plan at the beginning and first Samuel chapter 10 when the coronation was supposed to happen, Saul was hiding amongst the stuff. \n\nHe was resisting the plan of God from the beginning. That wasn&#039;t humility. That was disobedience. He resisted God plan for sacrifice before this battle, and then he spent the rest of his life resisting God&#039;s new plan. \n\nTo the end of his life he was resisting God plan to put David on the throne, and for the rest of his life he was fighting against it, fighting against it. \n\nListen, Saul could have recovered after Chapter 13 and his Kingdom would have been over, but he could have lived a long and good life and accomplished much for the Lord and found much satisfaction and joy. \n\nIn the work of God and in the plan of God, if he would have submitted to God after that. \n\nBut he continued to resist, and he was miserable, and so he was tormented by an evil spirit. \n\nHe was killed in battle. \n\nHe, to the end of his life, was a miserable man fighting against God. \n\nGod has the right to reshape your life. \n\nAnd even if he reshapes it into something because of some resistance in us, if he reshapes us into something, it&#039;s going to be good, and it&#039;s going to be for our good. \n\nGod never just reshaping and changing course just out of spite or just to pay us back. \n\nHe&#039;s always wanting what&#039;s best for us and working out what is good for us and so it&#039;s always in our best interest, even if we failed previously. \n\nDon&#039;t follow the example of King Saul change course. \n\nAnd now, wherever you&#039;re at, Plainy might be off the table. \n\nYou know, sometimes we can be surprised, though. \n\nGod can even bring us back to plan A in his mercy and grace upon us. \n\nBut but even if that&#039;s not the case, even if planning will will never see the light of day again. \n\nPlan B or C or Q, whatever plan we&#039;re on when we submit to the Lord right now and allow him to reshape our lives. \n\nWell, all of the promises of God come with that. \n\nJoy and peace. \n\nGod working for our good for all of eternity. \n\nIs promised to us. \n\nAs we bring ourselves into submission, in compliance with and cooperation with the Lord. \n\nAnd the shape and the form and the work that he wants to do in us. \n\nWell, thirdly, I want to consider this evening that God has the right to direct one step at a time. \n\nGod has the right to direct you. \n\nLittle by little by little by little by little. \n\nIf that&#039;s what he chooses to do. \n\nLook at verse one and two again the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying arise and go down to the Potters house. \n\nAnd there I will cause you to hear my words. \n\nGod doesn&#039;t just show up and say, alright, Jeremiah, picture of Potter, here&#039;s the whole story, here&#039;s the whole picture, here&#039;s how that applies, and here&#039;s all the things that I need you to say. \n\nHe just. \n\nTell us, Jeremiah. \n\nHey, Jeremiah, go here. \n\n&#039;cause, I want to tell you something. \n\nWell, just tell me God. \n\nDon&#039;t make me wait. \n\nDon&#039;t make me go there. \n\nLike now I&#039;m in suspense. \n\nLike just tell me. \n\nGod first gives a little bit of instruction and then we see Jeremiah obey in verse 3. \n\nThen I went down. \n\nTo the Potter&#039;s house. \n\nGod didn&#039;t give Jeremiah the whole plan. \n\nHe didn&#039;t tell him what kind of. \n\nMessage he was going to give, right? \n\nIf we were in Jeremiah shoes, we might be negotiating with God. \n\nWell, what kind of message are you going to tell me? \n\nLike, is it a good message or is this going to be hard? \n\nThis is gonna be one of those messages where people are going to hate me &#039;cause I have to give this message like it&#039;s not worth it. \n\nI&#039;m not going to go to the Potters house to get a message that people are going to hate me for. \n\nSo tell me right now, is it a good message or it is a hard message and and then I&#039;ll decide if I want to go down to the potty? \n\nAllison hear the message that. \n\nYou want to give me? \n\nNo, Jeremiah just went. \n\nGod gave the instruction the first step and then Jeremiah went to the Potters House. \n\nUs and then verse five. \n\nThen the word of the Lord came to me saying. \n\nOh, House of Israel, can I not do with you as this Potter? \n\nSays the Lord. \n\nThe only way Jeremiah got to hear this message. \n\nWas by first obeying the little bit of instruction that God. \n\nHad given to him. \n\nGod having full rights over our lives. \n\nGives him the right. \n\nTo direct us one step at a time. \n\nI don&#039;t know how you feel about directions given to you from your phone. \n\nI couldn&#039;t live without them. \n\nI drive from here to Costco and I turn on my directions. \n\nI know how to get there mostly usually. \n\nBut also, I don&#039;t know what traffic is going to be like and I don&#039;t know, you know, what kind of accidents there might be, your construction on the road. \n\nAnd so I usually will turn it on to find out, and I&#039;ll allow the turn by turn directions. \n\nBut sometimes I I don&#039;t like the turn by turn directions because like, I&#039;m trying to figure out when I&#039;m leaving my driveway. \n\nOK? \n\nAm I going to go the back way down Archibald or am I going to take the 15 to go to Costco? \n\nAnd so I I don&#039;t want to just listen to. \n\nThe next step I want to look at the whole list of directions and figure out in advance and see in advance which route is this taking me on. \n\nAnd there are so many times in our lives where we want that full picture. \n\nI want the whole list of steps God give me the whole layout. \n\nWhich turn are we making and which street are we taking, and are we going to turn left at this one? \n\nAre we going to turn left at that one and how are we going to go? \n\nAnd and and maybe why even like why not take the Hamner? \n\nLord, I could just take Hamner, like why not just take him? \n\nWhy are you taking me down, Archibald? \n\nCan you explain? \n\nAnd I&#039;m not going to leave the driveway to explain why I need to go down Hamner instead art? \n\nBut like we. \n\nFind ourselves in a situation many times where we want the explanation, we want the whole picture. \n\nAnd God is many times saying I just want to give you turn by turn directions. \n\nYou don&#039;t need to. \n\nWorry about the rest. \n\nJust turn right here. \n\nGo down this road. \n\nFor a mile, and then what? \n\nWell, sometimes it&#039;s good on that road for another mile. \n\nAnd then and then what? \n\nWell, then it&#039;s turned left. \n\nLord, why can&#039;t you tell me? \n\nI could have got there faster if you would have just let me go and told me where we were trying to get to. \n\nAnd we, we many times have a great difficulty with this. \n\nBut this is often the way that God works now. \n\nSometimes God chooses to give a whole blueprint and plan and lay things out for us. \n\nI would suggest it&#039;s kind of rare for God to work with his children that way. \n\nStarting with Abraham in Genesis chapter 12. \n\nThe Lord said to Abraham, get out of your country, from your family and from your father house to a land that I will show you. \n\nAbraham, I&#039;m going to give you turn by turn directions. \n\nI&#039;m not going to give you the. \n\nWhole list and show you where your destination is. \n\nJust turn right here. \n\nGo straight there, turn left there. \n\nAnd when you get there, I&#039;ll tell you that you&#039;re there. \n\nYou gotta trust me that much. \n\nYou gotta surrender to me that much. \n\nYou gotta walk with me that closely. \n\nThat step by step by step, turn by turn, you&#039;re letting me direct and speak and influence your life. \n\nWe see another good example in the New Testament in acts Chapter 8 with. \n\nPhillip, an Angel of the Lord, spoke to Phillip, saying arise, go down toward the South along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. \n\nThis is desert. \n\nPhillip was in the midst of a great ministry and a revival breaking out and the Lord says go to the desert. \n\nNo explanation, no details until he&#039;s there. \n\nThen he sees the Ethiopian eunuch. \n\nThen the Lord tells him, here&#039;s the next step. \n\nGo run up and catch the chariot. \n\nGod has the right to direct one step. \n\nAt a time. \n\nIt keeps us close, keeps us trusting him, keeps us walking with him. \n\nKeeps us listening. \n\nFor his voice. \n\nThe example of Abraham again in Genesis Chapter 22, the Lord says I want you to go sacrifice Isaac, your son, your only son. \n\nOn Mount Moriah. \n\nAnd Abraham. \n\nWas obedient. \n\nHe took that step, he took that instruction, and we know the Lord intervened and stopped him before he executed it. \n\nPun intended. \n\nBefore he put Isaac to death. \n\nGod intervened. But. \n\nHad to keep himself in a place of willingness to hear from God, to be directed by God. \n\nSo that he could experience. \n\nEven though he knew what God said, he already. \n\nHad a word from the Lord. \n\nHe knew what he had to do. \n\nAnd where he had to do it. \n\nBut he still needed to be receptive to God, saying, you know what? \n\nI retain the right to redirect you at any point. \n\nAlong the way. \n\nAnd Isaac was grateful that Abraham allowed the Lord to redirect him along the way. \n\nRight that this is the way that God works many times in our lives, Pastor Warren Wisby says there&#039;s mystery involved in the relationship between divine sovereignty and human responsibility, but we don&#039;t have to explain the will of God. \n\nBefore we can obey it, we live by divine promises and precepts, not theological explanations. \n\nAnd God isn&#039;t obligated to explain anything to us. \n\nHe&#039;s not obligated to tell us the whole story, all of the reasons why, and the whole list in advance. \n\nHe has the right to direct one step at a time, and you know what this means. \n\nThis means not. \n\nEvery day, in every moment. \n\nBut from time to time, there ought to be some things that you do. \n\nThat you have no explanation for other than. \n\nGod told me to do this. \n\nThere ought to be in your life those occasions. \n\nNot just. \n\nLong time ago, in past history. \n\nNot just things that you don&#039;t know why you&#039;re doing them. \n\nBecause you just are doing them. \n\nBut things that I know God told me to do this. \n\nAnd it doesn&#039;t make sense to me why I don&#039;t understand what the Lord is doing in this there. \n\nThere should be times in our lives where we are guessing. \n\nI think this might be what God is doing. \n\nI think this might be why God wants me to go this way or talk to that person or engage in that conversation. \n\nI I think that God has this in mind. \n\nPerhaps, you know, this is something I continue to. \n\nWrestle with and. \n\nMy workplace why am I here? \n\nWhy does God have me in this role? \n\nIt doesn&#039;t make any sense. \n\nThere is nothing I would volunteer for or desire. \n\nIt&#039;s something I continue to. \n\nPonder and consider here at the church. \n\nWhy does God have me here as this is not, this does? \n\nNot rationally make sense. \n\nI don&#039;t know but. \n\nI keep showing up because God has continued to tell me to keep showing up. \n\nPursue the role. \n\nAnd I&#039;m faithful to the best of my ability, &#039;cause. \n\nThat&#039;s the instruction that God has given me. \n\nBut aside from the work of the Lord, nobody would choose me for pretty much anything that I&#039;m doing in. \n\nThis life like. \n\nI&#039;m not a natural fit for any of it. \n\nIt doesn&#039;t make sense in any degree. \n\nBut one step at a time. \n\nGod puts me. \n\nWhere he wants me to be. \n\nAnd there should be those things in our lives, those occasions where. \n\nI don&#039;t know. \n\nI mean, I can come up with some guesses why God has me in this role at this flooring company. \n\nI can I can make some guesses. \n\nAnd maybe you could call them educated guesses. \n\nBut the reality is, I don&#039;t know. \n\nGod hasn&#039;t told me all that he&#039;s planning to do with that. \n\nAnd and maybe it&#039;s not even, you know, for some greatness. \n\nMaybe it&#039;s because I need some crushing and so he&#039;s giving me this role because I need to be squeezed a bit more and crushed in order to be shaped in the way that he wants to. \n\nIt it&#039;s. \n\nNot up to him. \n\nIt&#039;s not up to me to demand an explanation. \n\nIt&#039;s it&#039;s up to him if he chooses to provide it, and I would suggest, likely I won&#039;t know until eternity. \n\nThe reasons and the purposes and the whys. \n\nThat there ought to be and so the the reason why I&#039;m sharing. \n\nAll this is like if we can explain everything in our lives. \n\nThen maybe we need to kind of double check if we&#039;re where we&#039;re supposed to be on the Potters wheel that that. \n\nMaybe there&#039;s some elements of us holding onto things or resisting things, or forcing things. \n\nMissing out on God. \n\nReal plans for us because we demand explanation, understanding. \n\nBefore we will engage or involve ourselves in anything. \n\nWell, the 4th point kind of goes along with that. \n\nThe counter side to that God has the right to not explain anything in advance. \n\nGod is the right to not even give us that first initial step of instruction. \n\nThink about the example of Joseph. \n\nLife just happened to Joseph. \n\nGod gave him dreams but didn&#039;t tell him what to do with them or what they were going to accomplish or anything like. \n\nThat and so. \n\nHe just told him to his brothers. \n\nHis brothers hated him. \n\nHis brother sold him into slavery. \n\nHe was falsely accused and put into prison 20 years later. \n\nThere is a understanding of what God was doing, but there was no explanation, no preparation, just boom. \n\nHappened to him. \n\nAnd God has the right to do that. \n\nTo any one of us. \n\nBecause he&#039;s got. \n\nHe is the creator he is. \n\nThe owner. \n\nHe has creative rights. \n\nHe has ownership rights. \n\nHe wants what&#039;s best for us so we don&#039;t have to fear that kind of power in our lives. \n\nBut we do need to submit to and understand that we can&#039;t demand that God explain everything and that we have an answer for everything. \n\nI mean, it might be 20 years later that Joseph understood. \n\nIt might be 20 years later that you understand. \n\nOr as I said, it might not be till eternity. \n\nYou want to make it worse? \n\nThink about job. \n\nJob had no explanation, even when. \n\nShowed up at the end. \n\nThere was no explanation, right? \n\nNo answer to all the questions. \n\nJob didn&#039;t need the answers to all the questions once God showed up at the end, but but at the beginning when all of this unfolds. \n\nNo advance notice. \n\nNo, you know, 4 warnings or preparation. \n\nCalls or anything like that. \n\nIt was just boom. \n\nHere is this situation that job is. \n\nIn the midst of. \n\nGod has the right to not explain anything. \n\nYou don&#039;t have to tell us one thing. \n\nAnd the life of job can come upon us. \n\nHe has that right. \n\nAnd again, we don&#039;t need to fear it &#039;cause God is good. \n\nAnd we also can&#039;t demand something different because he is the creator. \n\nHe&#039;s the Potter. \n\nWe are the clay, Paul. \n\nTells us in Romans Chapter 9. \n\nWho are you to reply against God? \n\nWill the thing formed say to him? \n\nWho formed it? \n\nWhy have you made me like this? \n\nAnd we could stop here for a moment and say, well, yeah, actually we do see that quite a bit, don&#039;t we, we. \n\nDon&#039;t have the right to say it. \n\nWe have the right to challenge God and. \n\nTo disagree with him, but we do. \n\nWill the thing formed say to him who formed it? \n\nWhy have you made me like this? \n\nDoes the Potter does not the Potter? \n\nHave power over the clay. \n\nFrom the same lump, to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor. \n\nPride can take one of us and fashion us and shape us into something amazing and take another one of us and form us and shape us and something that&#039;s not so amazing from our perspective. \n\nIt&#039;s all going to be good. \n\nIf we allow God to do his work. \n\nAnd it&#039;s all going to be worth it if we will surrender to God. \n\nHe owes us no explanation. \n\nSometimes he gives it, sometimes he hints at it. \n\nWe were blessed by that, but but we can&#039;t be in a position of demanding it. \n\nRemember when the Lord reinstated Peter? \n\nIn John chapter 21. \n\nAnd then later on told Peter. \n\nGave him some hints. \n\nAbout how he would die and Peter looks behind. \n\nHim and sees. \n\nThe apostle John and says what about this man? \n\nAnd Jesus says, if I tell you that he&#039;s going to remain till I come, what is that to you? \n\nYou follow me. \n\nJesus didn&#039;t tell Peter. \n\nAbout John, he&#039;s made-up a hypothetical. \n\nI could tell you anything I want to about John, but that doesn&#039;t matter. \n\nJesus says you follow me. \n\nYou don&#039;t live by the explanations you don&#039;t determine. \n\nYou know whether or not you want to follow depending on what God is going to do in this other person life. \n\nThat doesn&#039;t matter, Peter. \n\nLike why are you worried about that? \n\nDon&#039;t be negotiating with me about that. \n\nYou just follow me. \n\nIt doesn&#039;t matter if other people are going to suffer as much as you are. \n\nIt doesn&#039;t matter if other people are going to be blessed more than you are. \n\nYou follow me. \n\nGod has the right. \n\nTo not explain anything in advance, in eternity we will know. \n\nAs we are fully known, and eternity will have a different perspective. \n\nAnd in eternity we will thank God for every move that he ever made in our lives. \n\nBut he does not have to explain any of that right now. \n\nHe has that right. \n\nSo God claims full rights over your life. \n\nHe has the right to shape your life. \n\nThe right to reshape your life when you resist his will. \n\nWhen you deviate from the path, he has the right to direct one step at a time. \n\nAnd he has the right to withhold explanations. \n\nUntil he turned any. \n\nI want to finish up with this quote from. \n\nPastor Warren wiersbe. \n\nLike the patient Potter. \n\nGod is willing to mold us again when we resist him. \n\nAnd damage our own lives. \n\nNo failure in our lives need be fatal or final. \n\nGod gave new beginnings to Abraham, Moses, David, Jonah, and Peter when they failed, and he can do the same for us today. \n\nNo matter what history we have. \n\nOn the Potters wheel. \n\nWhat lays before us? \n\nIs a whole new batch of opportunities. \n\nNo previous failure needs to be fatal or final. \n\nWe can agree. \n\nWith God about his rights over our lives. \n\nAnd allow him to shape us, to reshape us, to direct us. \n\nAnd to give us as much or as little explanation as he wants. \n\nWe could submit to God and surrender to God no matter what. \n\nLet&#039;s pray, Lord. \n\nI pray that you would help us to recognize the rights that you have. \n\nYou assert your creative rights, your ownership rights, and you call us. \n\nTo surrender to you, to trust you that. \n\nYou love us. \n\nAnd that you want what&#039;s best for us, what you demonstrated, your love at the cross so we can trust that we know once and for all. \n\nYou&#039;ve demonstrated even while we were sinners and opposed to you and hating you, you died for us. \n\nAnd so, Lord, you&#039;re worthy of our trust. \n\nYou&#039;re worthy of our obedience. \n\nHelp us, Lord. \n\nTo be soft and moldable, clay in your hands. \n\nTo be responsive as you speak. \n\nTo be repentant. \n\nWhat, as you call us out of sin? \n\nLoad that we would be excited. \n\nAnd motivated as you call us forward. \n\nAnd a service and a ministry into. \n\nThe work that you have for us. \n\nHelp us to participate with you. \n\nThat we might experience. \n\nThe fullness of what you have for us. \n\nAnd Lord, that we might bring glory and honor to you in the lives that we live, we pray this in Jesus name. "
<https://www.livingwatercorona.com/teaching/jeremiah-18-god-claims-full-rights-over-your-life/>