1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:03,360 Bless his name. Can you give him a hand clap of 2 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:05,880 praise right now? We're thankful to you, Lord. 3 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:09,440 Now we're so grateful to your holy name. 4 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:13,440 Hallelujah, Jesus. Amen. 5 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:17,280 If you don't mind standing with me this evening and meet me in 6 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:21,400 the prophetic book of Jeremiah tonight, Amen. 7 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:24,520 It would have been my task to sing, but my voice is a little 8 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:26,280 bit rough from just this morning. 9 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:31,200 And so just to save that for the next little while, Amen. 10 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:33,320 I'm not going to do that here tonight. 11 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:35,800 Hallelujah. Jeremiah. 12 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:38,920 Going to read from a couple different chapters in the book 13 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:42,840 of Jeremiah here this evening, Jeremiah chapter 18. 14 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:47,400 And then also Jeremiah chapter 19 going to be reading from 15 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:51,320 tonight as well. Amen. 16 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:56,000 Hallelujah. Jeremiah 18. 17 00:00:56,400 --> 00:00:59,320 Also be reading from Jeremiah chapter 19. 18 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:06,120 The Bible says starting with verse #1 Jeremiah 18. 19 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:09,160 The Bible says the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord 20 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:13,560 saying, Arise and go down to the Potter's house. 21 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,320 There I will cause thee to hear my words. 22 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:21,080 Then I went down to the Potter's house, and behold, he wrought to 23 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:25,000 work on the wheels. The vessel that he made of clay 24 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:29,080 was marred in the hand of the Potter, so he made it again 25 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:33,680 another vessel as seemed good to the Potter to make. 26 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:40,040 Skipping now over to chapter #19 and with verse #1 the Bible says 27 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:44,440 the save the Lord, go and get a Potter's earthen bottle, take of 28 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:47,400 the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests, 29 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:52,760 and go forth into the valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is by 30 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:57,240 the entry of the Eastgate. Other versions read that. 31 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:02,920 Take it to the gate of broken pottery, or to the potsherds 32 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:06,360 gate. Proclaim, They're the words that 33 00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:09,080 I shall tell thee. Verse 10. 34 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:13,400 Then shalt thou break the bottom of the side of the men that go 35 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:16,600 with thee, and thou shalt say to them Thus if the Lord of hosts, 36 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:20,560 Even so will I break this people in this city as one break of the 37 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:23,880 Potter's vessel that cannot be made whole again. 38 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:29,440 They shall bury them until fat, till there be no place to bury. 39 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:36,240 2 distinct episodes tonight. Jeremiah observing something 40 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:40,120 taking place at the Potter's house and then being 41 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:47,360 instrumental as an instrument of the Lord to break a vessel at 42 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:51,480 what would be known as the pots herds gate. 43 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:57,160 So I want to minister with these two things in mind, the Potter's 44 00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:03,480 house or the pots herds gate, The Potter's house or the pots 45 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:07,080 herd gate. And again, pots herd is just 46 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:09,840 broken pieces of pottery, shards of pottery. 47 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:12,040 Amen. Amen. 48 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:14,960 Let's ask the Lord to help us here tonight one more time, 49 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:17,600 shall we? On this Sunday, Father, we come 50 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:22,160 to you tonight. God, we lean upon you, O Lord, 51 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:27,320 we lean upon you, O Lord, God, I pray, Lord, our hearts and our 52 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:30,520 minds, God surrendered to you, Lord, for the next little while, 53 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:34,360 God, allow us to Lord to be touched, but also allow us to, 54 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:36,480 Lord Jesus in return to touch heaven. 55 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:40,040 I pray, Master today, God, you know the needs, Lord, in this 56 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:41,800 place. And you know us Lord, more 57 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:44,400 intimately God than anyone else does. 58 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:47,400 I pray God that you're able to help us in our walks and our 59 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:51,040 relationships with you. God make us what we should, what 60 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:55,200 we ought, what we need to be in the lovely name of Jesus said, I 61 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:57,160 pray, I thank you and I adore you. 62 00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:01,760 Amen in Jesus name of the church, say Amen, Amen. 63 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:06,440 You may be seated tonight in Jesus name the Potter's house or 64 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:10,560 the potsherd gate. Jeremiah 19. 65 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:14,760 We must submit together. Tonight starts with begins with 66 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:19,320 a strange command from the Lord unto the prophet Jeremiah. 67 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:23,120 The Lord basically tells Jeremiah that he should go and 68 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:29,320 acquire purchase if you will be a consumer and buy and go get a 69 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:33,840 Potter's earthen bottle. This earthen bottle, of course, 70 00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:38,440 is quite different than what he would have seen in some respects 71 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:44,600 in Jeremiah chapter #18 This was not clay that was on the wheel. 72 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:49,360 This was not a soft pliable substance at this particular 73 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:54,000 time. But it is something that is a 74 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:57,880 finished vessel. It is a finished vessel. 75 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:01,680 He's he's not buying or purchasing unfinished material. 76 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:05,160 He is buying and purchasing a finished vessel. 77 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:08,280 It is already been fired by the kiln. 78 00:05:08,280 --> 00:05:13,640 It is already hardened. It is already set in many ways. 79 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:16,520 It has already passed through the flames. 80 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:21,160 It's it's taken on a permanent form already when he has 81 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:25,120 purchased it, whenever he has made the transaction in order to 82 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:27,800 secure it. If I say it like this tonight, 83 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:33,680 this vessel that he he gets is no longer adjustable in any way. 84 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:38,920 And then God gave Jeremiah what would seem to be even a stranger 85 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:42,160 instruction. He told him to carry that 86 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:47,960 hardened vessel out of the city through a very specific gate and 87 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:52,920 into a very specific valley. He told him to walk through the 88 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:58,720 pots herd gate and into the valley of Ben Hinnom, which was 89 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:03,040 the city's refuse dump. And there in the presence of 90 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:07,000 some of the ancients of the city and people of renown of that 91 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:11,760 place, in the presence of witnesses, God said, pray the 92 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:13,720 bottle. This wasn't, of course, the 93 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:17,280 first time, as you know from our reading of the text, this wasn't 94 00:06:17,280 --> 00:06:23,360 the first time Jeremiah has visited a Potter in chapter #18 95 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:28,120 Jeremiah has already been prior to this moment, to the Potter's 96 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:31,040 house. But the atmosphere there is 97 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:34,960 quite different than what he has in chapter 19. 98 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:40,480 In chapter 18, Jeremiah is not a consumer or a buyer or a 99 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:45,400 purchase of a finished good, but Jeremiah is a spectator and he's 100 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:49,520 taking in what the Potter is doing upon the will. 101 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:54,120 The Bible says he watches as the Potter works the wheels, the 102 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:56,880 clay. The Bible says as Jeremiah is 103 00:06:56,880 --> 00:07:00,560 observing these things that the clay has become marred in the 104 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:05,360 hands of the Potter. It has, if you will, been and is 105 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:09,840 somewhat flawed. It is imperfect it it did not 106 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:13,640 turn out as the Potter intended it. 107 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:16,680 The Potter, though, as the as Jeremiah is taking in the 108 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:20,480 picture of what's going on here, he's interested and takes note 109 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:24,920 because the Potter does not throw away the clay that has 110 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,920 become marred. He does not throw away the clay 111 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:32,240 that becomes imperfected or flawed upon his will. 112 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:36,800 And he did not do as in the 19th chapter with the finished 113 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:39,560 vessel. There is no carrying for this 114 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:42,880 vessel outside of the the city. As a matter of fact, the 115 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:48,200 scripture says these words that Jeremiah observes that so he, 116 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:53,240 the Potter made it again, another vessel as seen good for 117 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:57,120 the Potter to make it. So here is a clay that had 118 00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:01,440 become marred, but it was a clay that was still solved. 119 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:07,840 It was a clay that was flawed or imperfect, but it still had some 120 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:12,560 Motability that was to it. If I'd say like this, it still 121 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:16,160 had a responsiveness to the hands of the Potter. 122 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:19,400 Hey, man, it was damaged, if you will, if you want to call it 123 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:23,840 that, but it was still soft enough to reshape it yet again, 124 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:30,000 as seen good unto the Potter, and as long as it remained soft. 125 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:33,240 Amen. It's failure, it's flaw, it's 126 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:38,799 damage was not a finality for that particular lump of play. 127 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:42,520 There's a truth that is revealed just in these couple chapters 128 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:46,840 very quickly tonight that God gives to us through Jeremiah, 129 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:51,040 through these two episodes of a Potter, and that is this, that 130 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:56,920 God does not discard vessels just because they are marred. 131 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:02,960 Let me say that again. God does not discard vessels 132 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:07,520 simply because they are marred. And there's one thing for sure, 133 00:09:07,680 --> 00:09:11,960 you are in no better place in your marrying than being in the 134 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:18,040 hands of a Potter that has the ability and the want to Amen to 135 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:20,360 reshape you. Yet again. 136 00:09:20,560 --> 00:09:24,800 The Bible tells us He doesn't cast it aside, He doesn't push 137 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:28,680 it to the side, but he remakes the vessel because it is it's 138 00:09:28,680 --> 00:09:32,720 still pliable. It is still responsive to his 139 00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:34,960 hand. And so that's a big difference 140 00:09:34,960 --> 00:09:38,720 between chapter 18 and chapter 19. 141 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:42,600 And the difference is not that the Potter was different. 142 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:45,360 Hey, man. The difference is, is that the 143 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:49,600 condition of the vessel in chapter 18 different from the 144 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:52,520 condition of the vessel in chapter 19. 145 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:57,080 The condition of the vessel in Chapter 18 is that it was 146 00:09:57,080 --> 00:09:59,840 marred, but it it was still soft. 147 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:04,680 But in Chapter 19, it's a vessel that seems to be complete or 148 00:10:04,680 --> 00:10:07,800 finished or whole and hardened. Amen. 149 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:12,280 But it can no longer be shaped. It can no longer, if you will, 150 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:17,440 respond to the hands of the Potter when you looked at one 151 00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:21,320 one in its March state, it doesn't look too good. 152 00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:24,360 It doesn't look too appealing to the eye. 153 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:28,400 It looked worse, if you will, then the vessel that was in 154 00:10:28,560 --> 00:10:32,760 chapter #19. But although it looked worse, it 155 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:38,120 still had hope. Although it may have looked 156 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:42,040 worse, it still had hope. Whereas on the other case, in 157 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:47,080 Chapter 19, it's a vessel that has all the likeness and the 158 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:51,560 appearance of being whole. But the fact is it was hardened 159 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:56,120 and nothing else could be done with the vessel. 160 00:10:56,280 --> 00:11:00,440 It seemed fine. It seemed, oh, it's incomplete, 161 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:04,960 it seems set, but it really didn't have a future. 162 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:11,640 Because God is interested in our Motability and pliability and 163 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:15,560 the shaping of our lives. Because it's how we can be 164 00:11:15,560 --> 00:11:21,120 responsive to the master spotter that really determines destiny 165 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:26,280 for our lives. So when I read this, Bishop, I 166 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:30,240 understand that God is not limited by our quote UN quote 167 00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:34,480 flaws and our damage. But many times what limits God 168 00:11:34,680 --> 00:11:42,840 is our inability to be shaped and the hardness that we develop 169 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:45,880 in life. So in chapter 19, everything 170 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:52,520 shifts because what Jeremiah is observing there, it's no longer 171 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:57,120 clay in the Potter's hands. It's a vessel that's already 172 00:11:57,120 --> 00:12:02,120 taken a prescribed form. It's already been fired in the 173 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:04,760 kiln. It's no longer soft. 174 00:12:05,560 --> 00:12:08,960 It can serve a purpose. Yes, it could perhaps Brother 175 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:12,560 Fred carry water, or maybe it could handle some other type of 176 00:12:12,560 --> 00:12:14,680 liquid. But here's the fact of that 177 00:12:14,680 --> 00:12:17,240 vessel. It could no longer be changed. 178 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:24,960 It was fixed, no longer could be changed. 179 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:28,840 And God, he told Jeremiah, he says, whenever you get this 180 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:33,280 vessel that can no longer be shaped and no longer be changed 181 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:37,080 and no longer be influenced, he says, don't take that vessel and 182 00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:40,360 take it back to the Potter's house, he said, but instead take 183 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:43,440 that vessel to the gate of the pots herd. 184 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:46,280 Amen. And it's there they would say, 185 00:12:46,280 --> 00:12:50,240 man, he said, you, you take that to that gate because that 186 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:53,640 potsherd gate only really serves for one purpose. 187 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:56,120 That potsherd gate is named that. 188 00:12:56,120 --> 00:12:58,080 And you see this throughout Scripture. 189 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:00,400 Read it, Nehemiah. You read it in all the different 190 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:03,720 gates that surround Jerusalem. Usually whatever they were named 191 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:06,000 kind of indicated what was brought through them. 192 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:08,360 There was the sheep gate. Guess what went through it? 193 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:11,600 There was the King's gate. Guess what went through it? 194 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:18,120 There was, sorry, the Dung Gate. I'm just saying. 195 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:22,680 And so the Pottser Gate is called the Pottser Gate because 196 00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:28,320 it is designated for broken pottery to make its exit. 197 00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:34,680 It's a gate that's named after all the fragments of something 198 00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:39,920 that used to be whole and complete and fixed that all the 199 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:43,400 shards you can exit out of the pots her gate and you're going 200 00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:46,960 to see on the ground Amen pieces, if you will, of O 201 00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:50,680 pottery vessels Amen that are there that that have lost to 202 00:13:50,680 --> 00:13:54,720 fulfill their function or can no longer be impressed or made into 203 00:13:54,720 --> 00:13:56,920 anything else except what they were. 204 00:13:57,040 --> 00:14:00,480 The Bible says that pots her gate was right next to the 205 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:05,320 valley of Ben Henom, which was the garbage dump of Jerusalem. 206 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:08,160 It's in this refuse heap and pile. 207 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:11,000 We're broken. Things were carried that no 208 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:13,440 longer could be used. It was a road. 209 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:16,680 If you took the road from that gate to the valley, it was 210 00:14:16,680 --> 00:14:20,600 littered with shards of broken pottery and fragments. 211 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:24,440 Bottles that once held water, vessels that once held other 212 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:28,040 liquids, vessels that once served a purpose, but now they 213 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:32,640 lay there just discarded and abandoned and broken. 214 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:36,480 You might ask, well, brother me, what in the world? 215 00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:38,640 Why would anybody need? Why? 216 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:41,120 Why would a city need an entire gate? 217 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:43,560 Amen. Just to broken pottery? 218 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:49,200 Because when you have a gate like that, that's dedicated to 219 00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:53,960 something like that, what that tells us is this that brokenness 220 00:14:53,960 --> 00:15:02,420 was common. Brokenness was common enough 221 00:15:02,860 --> 00:15:06,180 that they needed a gate by which there could be an exit for it. 222 00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:12,120 It was common enough, and it happened enough times and was 223 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:14,760 constant enough. There was enough vessels that 224 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:22,240 became so hardened that could no longer be pliable or shaped, but 225 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:25,800 were cracked or perhaps failed that they had to have a 226 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:31,240 dedicated exit necessary just for carrying them away. 227 00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:36,880 Am I doing all right? Historians say, as I read this 228 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:42,800 week and even testify, that the pots heard gate probably existed 229 00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:48,200 near the Potter's house that was on the inside of the city, so 230 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:52,320 that it would be a short transfer and walk from the 231 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:55,080 Potter's house to the pots heard gate. 232 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:59,120 But you're talking about just a short distance between something 233 00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:02,160 that was still pliable and something that was set and 234 00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:05,760 fixed, something that could be changed and altered to something 235 00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:09,000 that was not going to be changed and not going to be altered. 236 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:12,440 If I could just say it like this, there was just a small 237 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:16,840 dividing wall between the Potter's house and the pots. 238 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:21,360 Herd date, the separation of that which was solved, a man 239 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:25,720 impiable to that which was hard and impenetrable. 240 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:34,440 What the pots her game basically tells us is a very sobering 241 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:39,800 reality that every vessel that refuses to be pliable, every 242 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:44,840 vessel that refuses Amen to be shaped by the pressure Amen of 243 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:49,560 the Potter and comes to a place of being hardened beyond change 244 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:51,760 Amen. Eventually it's going to leave 245 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:56,000 it's mode of usefulness. Not because the Potter lacks his 246 00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:00,280 skill, not because the Potter lacks patience, but because the 247 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:04,520 vessel has become hard beyond reshaping. 248 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:09,040 And once it reaches that condition, the future of it was 249 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:15,640 not a reshaping but a breaking someone say man of the vessel. 250 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:21,440 So God told Jeremiah, he said, you take that thing that will 251 00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:27,480 not change and you go to the place of refuse that place of 252 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:29,480 abandonment just outside the wall. 253 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:33,840 And I want you to raise that in front of all the eyes of the 254 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:37,240 witnesses. And he says, I want you to smash 255 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:40,040 that thing on the ground in front of the people. 256 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:44,560 What Jeremiah was Acts asked to do, it was not an accident of of 257 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:47,880 of a faltering and mishandling and he dropped it. 258 00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:51,960 It was very intentional. God says you go out there, you 259 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:54,600 smash that thing down on the ground. 260 00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:58,120 He says because it's a hardened vessel, and in order to break 261 00:17:58,120 --> 00:18:02,000 that hardened vessel, it's going to take some force, Amen, of 262 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:05,680 putting it down on the ground. Ladies and gentlemen, do you 263 00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:09,000 understand there is a vast difference between Chapter 18 264 00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:13,120 and Chapter 19? In Chapter 18, we have the 265 00:18:13,120 --> 00:18:17,440 gentle, we have the gentle pressure of a Potter's hands. 266 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:21,760 We have the gentle kindness of a Potter's hands, Amen. 267 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:24,040 That's working with malleable clay. 268 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:28,760 But in Chapter 19, we have a hardened ceramic, Amen, that it 269 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:31,840 doesn't matter how much you'll put push on it or how much you 270 00:18:31,840 --> 00:18:34,880 plunge down upon it, it's not going to alter. 271 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:38,040 Hey, man. And God said unto Jeremiah, 272 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:41,480 those people. He said Even so, will I break 273 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:48,640 this people as one breaks a Potter's vessel again, because 274 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:53,960 God is in the business of reshaping the pliable listen, 275 00:18:54,680 --> 00:19:05,960 but he'll break the hardened. What I explained to you tonight, 276 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:12,320 it's not limited to pottery. As a matter of fact, it's 277 00:19:12,360 --> 00:19:17,200 evident in God's Word, in the lives of humanity. 278 00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:23,440 The Bible even tells us in the story of Israel's deliverance 279 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:31,160 from Egypt that Pharaoh is a prime example and showcased in 280 00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:35,520 his own life. What happens when a vessel 281 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:41,760 refuses to stay flexible? The Bible says that whenever 282 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:45,680 Moses first stood before Pharaoh and he's saying those popular 283 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:52,840 words, Let my people speaking for God, let my people go. 284 00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:57,440 And he delivered that word unto the king of Egypt, Pharaoh. 285 00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:01,200 At that moment, Pharaoh had a choice. 286 00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:05,000 He could have yielded to the voice of the Deliverer. 287 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:09,720 He could have lifted his hand totally without saying he would 288 00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:11,280 and changing his mind the next day. 289 00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:15,360 He could have yielded totally. It was an opportunity that was 290 00:20:15,360 --> 00:20:18,760 extended to him. He could have been soft to the 291 00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:21,840 voice of God. He could have been soft to the 292 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:24,360 reasoning of Moses. He could have responded 293 00:20:24,360 --> 00:20:27,320 differently than the way that he he responded. 294 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:30,440 But the Bible says and said, this is in your Bible, in the 295 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:36,440 book of Exodus, the Bible says that Pharaoh hardened his heart 296 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:41,360 and under the pressure of the hand of the master Potter, hey 297 00:20:41,360 --> 00:20:45,280 man, he is resisting. He's being inflexible. 298 00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:49,080 Here comes one plague and there goes another plague. 299 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:53,880 Hey, man, it wasn't judgment as much Amen for Pharaoh as it was 300 00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:56,960 an opportunity to Pharaoh. Let me say it like this, when 301 00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:00,480 you refuse God's opportunities, they'll become judgment to you. 302 00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:08,440 He'll become judgement to you. And so here it is. 303 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:12,080 He had an opportunity to yield. He had an opportunity to say, 304 00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:15,080 OK, God, I'll listen to what you're saying. 305 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:17,160 I'll relieve my hand of pressure. 306 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:18,560 Amen. From your people. 307 00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:22,240 But the Bible says plague comes and plague goes and Pharaoh 308 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:26,440 refuses again and again and every time, most times you'll 309 00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:30,160 read in Scripture that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. 310 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:33,400 But then there's a point along the journey, there's something 311 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:36,640 very terrifying that happens according to Scripture. 312 00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:41,800 Now the Bible no longer says Bishop, that Pharaoh hardens his 313 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:46,760 heart, but the Scripture says that God hardens the heart of 314 00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:50,160 Pharaoh. It's not, Amen, that God was 315 00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:54,600 hardening a soft heart, but God was confirming the hardness of a 316 00:21:54,600 --> 00:22:02,960 heart that was already hard, saying he had resisted so many 317 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:09,200 times, unchanged, unaffected, influenced so many times. 318 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:13,680 It meant that it went beyond now him being able to change. 319 00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:18,080 He came set in his ways. He became set in his resistance, 320 00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:20,920 Amen. He became so hard, God says, 321 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:23,760 I'll harden it for the last time, Amen, because you've 322 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:26,360 hardened it all along the way along the journey. 323 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:31,360 And the end result for Pharaoh, it was not transformation, but 324 00:22:31,360 --> 00:22:35,520 it was destruction for his life. And the Bible says at the Red 325 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:39,840 Sea, if I could say it like this, that that hardened vessel 326 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:45,800 was shattered right there. And so the truth of Pharaoh's 327 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:53,160 story tells us that the greatest danger in our lives is not when 328 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:59,280 God stops working on you, it's when you stop responding to Him. 329 00:23:09,120 --> 00:23:11,560 Hey, man. So when we stop responding, 330 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:16,440 someone said a long time ago said if someone's always 331 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:18,680 checking up on you, you shouldn't be offended by that. 332 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:22,240 So you need to fear the day that they stop checking up on you. 333 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:27,680 Because if they're always checking up on you, they they 334 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:29,120 believe there's still hope there. 335 00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:31,920 There's still something salvageable. 336 00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:36,880 Is everybody here? I'm saying right now I want, I 337 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:44,400 want conviction still to fall. I want God to see me as a soft 338 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:47,480 lump that maybe He'll give in this time to my hand. 339 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:53,760 I want that. But I'm fearful, went through 340 00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:58,160 times of being unresponsive to the touch of God. 341 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:05,800 Like I say. Why? 342 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:11,280 Because God says as long as they're pliable, I'll just make 343 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:17,200 it yet another vessel. But what I have to do with hard 344 00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:25,200 vessels is I got to break them. This is the pastor tonight. 345 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:31,120 It would be the preference of everybody in here to rather be 346 00:24:31,120 --> 00:24:42,280 reshaped than broken. There is a danger in our 347 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:49,800 spiritual lives when when we no longer struggle with certain 348 00:24:49,800 --> 00:24:52,000 things. And I'm not talking about with 349 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:54,720 what's right or what's wrong, but I'm, I'm just talking about 350 00:24:55,160 --> 00:25:01,080 with giving in to the unction and giving in to the wooing of 351 00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:06,480 the presence of God. And we just become settled when 352 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:12,440 there's no longer the wrestling match at your back of God, God 353 00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:17,000 and Jacob, but you just become to a place that you're so rigid, 354 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:24,080 no impact that I'm not pliable anymore. 355 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:30,200 But I'm just fixed. I have a form, but I've lost my 356 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:36,720 surrender. Hallelujah have all the 357 00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:42,040 appearance of being intact, but there's something inside of me 358 00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:47,080 that's beyond the reach of the reshaping of a Potter's hands. 359 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:51,200 God said this plainly to Jeremiah of that vessel. 360 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:55,640 He said it cannot be made whole again. 361 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:03,440 What he said it cannot be made whole again. 362 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:09,720 Can I tell you tonight that there is something positive in 363 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:15,680 the breaking that though a vessel is not to be repaired 364 00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:21,200 according to God after the breaking that the Potters not 365 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:27,200 ran out of clay, he can form a new vessel. 366 00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:33,000 He not going to repair the old vessel because we don't need a 2 367 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:37,800 point O somebody hear me We don't need a 2.0. 368 00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:44,120 What had to be broken honey, in my New Testament scripture it is 369 00:26:44,120 --> 00:26:49,560 with with emphasis why the apostle said all things are 370 00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:54,480 passed away. Behold all things become new. 371 00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:58,480 I don't need a better version of who I once was. 372 00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:10,240 I need a new version. I need a new version of who I 373 00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:13,000 used to be, but there's still some material around. 374 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:16,440 There's still some clay around. And the Potter says, you know 375 00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:17,760 what? That became hard. 376 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:21,120 So I'm going to break that and I'm going to make, I'm going to 377 00:27:21,120 --> 00:27:22,960 get my old hands in the dirt again. 378 00:27:23,120 --> 00:27:26,400 I'm going to get my hands in the Mar again, and I'm going to make 379 00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:30,280 a new creation out of the same material. 380 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:34,760 I'm going to make a new creation out of the same material. 381 00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:40,480 Can someone say, man, let me tell you about just personal 382 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:46,480 lives, and that is this, that we need both the Potter's House and 383 00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:54,480 the Potter Gate. If I'm speaking these terms 384 00:27:54,480 --> 00:28:04,480 tonight, there are areas of my life that become rigid, there 385 00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:12,000 are areas of my life that become set and firm and unforgiving, 386 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:19,560 and the only remedy for that area of my life is a breaking. 387 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:31,960 There's some areas of our lives that do not want to change, do 388 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:36,360 not want to acquiesce to the pressure of the Potter set in 389 00:28:36,360 --> 00:28:39,760 our ways. From what I need in those areas 390 00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:43,960 is for a loving Potter to say, you know what, Prophet, go get 391 00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:48,400 that thing that seems to be whole and fixed and rigid and go 392 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:51,480 out there and throw it down on the ground because I can't do 393 00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:53,960 anything with that until it breaks first. 394 00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:57,400 I can make something new, but that old thing's got to be 395 00:28:57,400 --> 00:28:58,440 broken. That. 396 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:08,240 Yeah, this. Because we live our lives like 397 00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:11,240 this. It's like, God, here I am. 398 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:15,240 I surrender everything to you. And then we rope off with yellow 399 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:21,920 caution tape areas of our life. It's like it's all yours. 400 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:24,200 And then we have the list of exceptions. 401 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:34,360 He wants all of you. He wants all of your life to be 402 00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:39,760 in adjusting to His hand, His touch. 403 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:44,200 I'm going to make sure I want to get into a place with God, that 404 00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:47,160 at the end of the day, you can see where his fingerprints have 405 00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:54,080 touched me. Clay's very impressionable. 406 00:29:55,360 --> 00:29:58,320 Clay's very impressionable. And then I know this is like a 407 00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:03,200 Far Cry, but whenever we were kids, we love Silly Putty, man. 408 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:05,440 We get that old comic section, black and white in the 409 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:08,560 newspaper. We'd roll that thing out thin. 410 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:10,880 We'd. Yeah, let's see, We laid over 411 00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:12,960 top of that comic. We smash, smash, smash, smash, 412 00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:14,600 smash. And you know what happened when 413 00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:19,360 we peeled that back was the imprint, Because that Silly 414 00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:21,040 Putty. Now, if you had Silly Putty long 415 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:22,440 enough, it'd start getting rigid. 416 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:31,000 It didn't transfer the image of what it was up against, but as 417 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:35,240 long as it was pliable, as long as it was malleable, you could 418 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:37,040 set it. You could set it against a 419 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:40,000 little crisscross pattern, and that crisscross pattern was 420 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:42,720 going to get on in. I could put it on top of the tea 421 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:45,360 kettle and there's going to be a point where the top of the tea 422 00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:48,440 kettle was. It was just impressed because it 423 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:50,760 was malleable. Honey, I'm going to be like that 424 00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:53,560 in the spirit God. I want to be able to have you 425 00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:56,080 fingerprints on my life. I want to be able to. 426 00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:02,360 I wanted to show up on this vessel that's still in process. 427 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:17,110 Yes, Amen. God's purpose does not end 428 00:31:18,190 --> 00:31:19,510 because the vessel becomes hardened. 429 00:31:21,550 --> 00:31:24,550 Since I go back to the same material that that was made out 430 00:31:24,550 --> 00:31:27,520 of. Now find me some clay that's 431 00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:31,520 pliable again. Here's one thing I'm sure of. 432 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:34,640 Our Potter never runs out of clay. 433 00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:42,680 And since he's committed to His purpose, He's committed to His 434 00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:47,400 purpose even more so than committed to just preserving 435 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:51,360 those things that are set in their ways. 436 00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:54,160 He's more committed to His purpose. 437 00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:57,640 That's the reason why being flexible and pliable in the 438 00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:02,800 hands of God is everything. It's one of the safest places in 439 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:07,600 our life. Not to be all intact, but being 440 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:15,200 able to be impressed. Most people by today's 441 00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:18,000 standards, I would say that would judge a vessel that's went 442 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,680 through the fire and the kiln and has his true form. 443 00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:24,880 Wow, look at that thing. But in the Kingdom, God has an 444 00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:29,120 upside down Kingdom. He's the first will be last. 445 00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:34,720 He's the greatest will be least. He's upside down Kingdom. 446 00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:40,840 And in his upside down Kingdom, he that is pliable, he that's 447 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:44,560 still in the mode of being able to be shaped has a better 448 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:48,640 appreciation than the one that just gets fixed and set in a 449 00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:52,480 venue or Ave. Hey, man, it's better to be Mar 450 00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:56,840 Jeremiah was telling us in chapter 18 in his hands than to 451 00:32:56,840 --> 00:33:01,520 be hardened outside of his hands, outside of the gate. 452 00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:04,080 Amen, folks, You say well, brother McGee, I'm not what I 453 00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:05,800 need to be. That's all right. 454 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:09,240 Welcome to the club. None of us at this juncture in 455 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:11,600 the road are where we need to be. 456 00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:15,080 But my question for you, are you still in his hands? 457 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:17,120 Are you still in the Potter's hands? 458 00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:21,720 Folks, this isn't a finished work until the sweet by and by, 459 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:26,280 and until then, I don't want to go through the fire of finishing 460 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:30,840 until that day comes. And so until that day comes, I'm 461 00:33:30,840 --> 00:33:34,520 saying God, take out the imperfections, take out the 462 00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:40,480 flaws, cut off the damage, mash me down, mowed me again, shake 463 00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:48,000 me up. Until then, someone say, man, 464 00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:54,880 when we become hardened outside of his hands, it's only one 465 00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:58,920 option. The breaking becomes inevitable. 466 00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:09,760 And yet scripture speaks of another episode in the New 467 00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:14,040 Testament Scripture, another image that comes to the mind 468 00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:22,639 describes a woman. It describes even a Sinner woman 469 00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:30,960 that's made her way to Jesus presence carrying an alabaster 470 00:34:31,199 --> 00:34:36,639 box vessel filled with precious ointment. 471 00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:46,280 That vessel was made to contain the contents of what was inside 472 00:34:47,639 --> 00:34:50,520 this woman. She did something quite 473 00:34:50,639 --> 00:34:54,320 unexpected of a completed vessel. 474 00:34:54,440 --> 00:35:03,000 A prophet didn't come along and extract that out of her hand and 475 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:04,640 break it in the eyes of the people. 476 00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:11,480 Jesus didn't take that vessel crack open that long neck flask 477 00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:16,720 in the eyes of the people Bible describes she broke. 478 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:22,760 Someone say she broke she broke that vessel herself. 479 00:35:23,240 --> 00:35:26,720 Can I say tonight better, Mason, that she didn't wait for 480 00:35:26,720 --> 00:35:30,400 circumstances. She didn't wait for judgment to 481 00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:34,400 break it. She willingly broke it herself 482 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:38,680 in His presence. And when she did, what was 483 00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:42,800 inside could finally flow out of that vessel. 484 00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:45,120 Can I tell you tonight? Hear me? 485 00:35:45,400 --> 00:35:50,320 Some vessels will never fulfill their ultimate purpose until 486 00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:54,520 they're broken and surrendered in His presence. 487 00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:59,360 And there is a profound difference between some one or 488 00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:03,520 something else breaking you in His presence and you breaking 489 00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:16,010 yourself it. I'm wondering if we could just 490 00:36:16,010 --> 00:36:19,920 save ourselves some heartache if we would take some of the rigid 491 00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:22,760 areas and say, God, I'm not waiting for anything else to 492 00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:24,800 come along to break it. I see it. 493 00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:28,760 I'm going to break it, God. I'm not waiting for circumstance 494 00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:32,800 or problem or unforeseen things to come around and break that 495 00:36:32,800 --> 00:36:35,160 down, though. I'm going to acknowledge it and 496 00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:36,920 I'm going to break it in your presence. 497 00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:40,720 Not outside the city gate, not on the other side of the wall, 498 00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:44,080 not at the refuse pile, not where abandoned things are. 499 00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:47,720 No, I'm going to stand in your presence and I'm going to do 500 00:36:47,720 --> 00:36:58,560 whatever is so it's Amen. And so she breaks it right there 501 00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:03,000 within the presence of the Lord at his feet. 502 00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:06,440 And what poured out filled the room. 503 00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:19,840 And I don't read where God rejected her breaking her vessel 504 00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:30,200 in His presence. This, folks, is the great 505 00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:35,280 dividing line between chapter 18 and chapter 19. 506 00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:40,840 Because every vessel's clay, every vessel's clay, every 507 00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:46,520 vessel is being shaped, every vessel is moving toward 2 508 00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:53,920 futures either reshaped by his hands or shattered outside of 509 00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:59,600 his hands. It's the Potter's house or the 510 00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:03,200 pots heard date, their spiritual realities. 511 00:38:04,080 --> 00:38:07,680 The difference of these two places, it doesn't come to bear 512 00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:10,400 that. The difference is my past, your 513 00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:15,120 past, my failures, Your failures, My scars, Your scars, 514 00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:17,600 My weaknesses, Your weaknesses. No, no, no. 515 00:38:17,800 --> 00:38:21,000 The difference is, are you malleable? 516 00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:28,480 Are you malleable? It's clear the air, Zach. 517 00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:32,040 God's not searching for perfect vessels. 518 00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:43,720 He's searching for modable, moldable vessels. 519 00:38:44,880 --> 00:38:48,160 Because if you're moldable, I can shake that. 520 00:38:51,240 --> 00:38:54,360 If you're moldable, if that's out of kilter, no problem. 521 00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:59,880 I'm a master Potter. Not just just a little bit of 522 00:38:59,880 --> 00:39:05,080 pressure, you know, So awesome. And we don't have time to go 523 00:39:05,080 --> 00:39:07,880 into all the things of of of a Potter, but they're unique, 524 00:39:07,880 --> 00:39:10,800 right As a Potter shapes A vessel. 525 00:39:11,240 --> 00:39:14,040 You ever watched it in some of those where they candle making 526 00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:16,440 under basket weave? I don't know if that's really a 527 00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:22,360 thing, but I guess it'd be cool to try see how far you can get 528 00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:26,400 as you hold your breath. I guess blacksmiths, right, All 529 00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:29,680 these different things. You ever seen a Potter and some 530 00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:32,640 of these old little things and little niches where they have 531 00:39:32,920 --> 00:39:36,080 these different things going on and you see him making a, a vest 532 00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:39,400 or a vase, you know, making a vase or something that liquid 533 00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:41,760 and putting handles on it. He was so interesting about that 534 00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:44,760 brother, Brother Reese. You see him and he smashes that 535 00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:47,080 clay down in the middle of the wheel and he's spinning it 536 00:39:47,680 --> 00:39:49,480 right. And he's he's pulling it up. 537 00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:53,960 But if he's going to make it to contain anything, he's got to 538 00:39:53,960 --> 00:39:56,680 put a hand in the vessel and on the outside of the vessel. 539 00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:05,240 Because a hand just on the outside of the vessel isn't 540 00:40:05,240 --> 00:40:07,600 going to provide any space for anything to be inside of the 541 00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:11,480 vessel. And if he puts his hand inside 542 00:40:11,480 --> 00:40:14,760 of the vessel, the only way he can keep that thing from falling 543 00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:17,520 apart from the pressure that he's putting on the outside is 544 00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:19,120 to have a firm hand on the outside. 545 00:40:19,320 --> 00:40:21,360 He can't create no walls of that vessel. 546 00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:28,440 It takes a Jesus working on the inside, moving on the outside. 547 00:40:28,880 --> 00:40:34,800 Oh, what a change. And he can get his hand down 548 00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:36,720 there and he can make the base just right. 549 00:40:36,720 --> 00:40:39,280 He can, he can extrude up those walls. 550 00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:42,000 But the vessel has to be pliable. 551 00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:44,800 It has to be malleable in order to do that. 552 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:47,520 You're saying you've been crying out to God lately? 553 00:40:47,520 --> 00:40:50,320 God, I feel me. I want contain. 554 00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:51,840 I want everything you have for me. 555 00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:54,800 Honey, He's going to have to move in your life to 556 00:40:54,800 --> 00:41:04,080 Createspace. How like the pressure God? 557 00:41:04,240 --> 00:41:07,320 Well, I'm sorry, the pressure's the means to the end. 558 00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:15,960 Pressure is a means to the end. So he's working on these things. 559 00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:18,680 He's not looking for perfect ones, He's looking for pliable 560 00:41:18,680 --> 00:41:22,120 ones less It's a hardened 1 and he has to break it. 561 00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:24,200 Let me tell you something about your God. 562 00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:33,160 Your God prefers reshaping you rather than having to break you. 563 00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:37,920 Breaking is not God's first choice. 564 00:41:40,840 --> 00:41:44,040 Breaking is not God's first choice. 565 00:41:44,280 --> 00:41:48,880 Reshaping is, I believe, with intent. 566 00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:55,360 He took Jeremiah to the Potter's house first before he took him 567 00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:58,640 to the pots herd date. Because Jeremiah. 568 00:41:58,640 --> 00:42:01,840 I'd rather have Jerusalem respond to the Potter's house. 569 00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:09,480 Then I had to experience the pots herd date of brokenness. 570 00:42:12,160 --> 00:42:13,920 I'm closing. You might be surprised, but it's 571 00:42:13,920 --> 00:42:18,120 OK. Happy love weekend. 572 00:42:22,600 --> 00:42:26,040 Here's what I know. This is quite simple, but if 573 00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:33,280 such a gate exists, such as a pots herd date where refuse 574 00:42:33,280 --> 00:42:38,040 broken pottery is discarded or where whole fixed unchangeable 575 00:42:38,040 --> 00:42:43,240 festivals vessels rather are are cast down, if such a gate 576 00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:47,320 exists, here's what that should tell us. 577 00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:53,320 If there's a pots herd gate, there must be a Potter's house. 578 00:42:54,480 --> 00:42:59,880 And if there's a Potter's house, there must be a Potter. 579 00:43:02,320 --> 00:43:05,760 Stay with me tonight. There must be a Potter. 580 00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:07,800 What are you saying to the McGee? 581 00:43:09,600 --> 00:43:15,800 I'm saying you are not shirt short of options. 582 00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:19,480 Like all there is is the Potter gate. 583 00:43:19,480 --> 00:43:22,200 No, no. If there's a gate, if there's a 584 00:43:22,200 --> 00:43:26,360 house, and if there's a Potter's house, there's a Potter. 585 00:43:28,520 --> 00:43:31,280 And if you desire to be anywhere, you don't want to be 586 00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:34,280 on the refuse pile. You want to be in the reshaping 587 00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:43,230 hands. Here's the fact of the matter, 588 00:43:44,630 --> 00:43:50,390 Sister Brittany. Every day, sometimes it feels 589 00:43:50,390 --> 00:43:57,560 like he gets me out, throws me in the middle of the will WHEEL 590 00:43:58,240 --> 00:44:00,440 and in the spirit, sometimes he has to throw me in the middle of 591 00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:10,620 his will WILL. You know what, folks? 592 00:44:10,620 --> 00:44:12,820 I'm not trying to allegorize and, you know, make all the 593 00:44:13,140 --> 00:44:17,820 topologies and stuff, but you're at my wife. 594 00:44:17,820 --> 00:44:19,300 Tell me. My wife's telling people some 595 00:44:19,300 --> 00:44:20,220 more. She says you got to be careful 596 00:44:20,220 --> 00:44:22,100 when you sit on the front row because he goes by, he taps you 597 00:44:22,100 --> 00:44:23,260 on the arm. He might slap you hard on the 598 00:44:23,260 --> 00:44:28,680 leg. This morning I did some things. 599 00:44:28,680 --> 00:44:29,960 I guess I didn't even know I didn't. 600 00:44:30,560 --> 00:44:34,480 I hope it's not on camera. I bet everybody's going to watch 601 00:44:34,480 --> 00:44:36,440 this morning service like Mike Newley. 602 00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:49,200 Pray God. The clay kind of gets tacky and 603 00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:54,800 a little sticky, and there's always a reason why the Potter 604 00:44:54,920 --> 00:45:06,800 keeps water close by. It's amazing how water can make 605 00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:21,680 the clay supple again. Oh yes yes yes yes. 606 00:45:25,960 --> 00:45:33,080 I remember this lump of clay, 8 years old now. 607 00:45:33,080 --> 00:45:37,000 Bishop Sizemore, David Sizemore, that kind voice. 608 00:45:37,520 --> 00:45:39,840 Is everything OK? Yes, yes. 609 00:45:41,760 --> 00:45:45,840 Had his hands on little Paul Robert McGee, just like you all 610 00:45:45,840 --> 00:45:47,200 do. I have my little hand up there. 611 00:45:48,800 --> 00:45:54,600 He took this lump of clay. So let's just add some water. 612 00:45:59,120 --> 00:46:00,440 And you know what happened in the moment. 613 00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:07,600 Sins were remitted when the water is literally applied to 614 00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:09,920 clay. They can allow to find those 615 00:46:09,920 --> 00:46:12,760 impurities and those little pebbles in there that allows 616 00:46:13,840 --> 00:46:15,600 really, I'm not trying to allegorize everything tag. 617 00:46:15,600 --> 00:46:18,520 I'm really not, but I'm just saying there's something about 618 00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:24,080 when you add water and you apply up 1 and you walk in that place, 619 00:46:24,800 --> 00:46:28,880 that God, there's no place, there's no area that you can't 620 00:46:28,880 --> 00:46:35,120 touch, that you can't minister, that you can't add the pressure. 621 00:46:36,840 --> 00:46:38,880 I've thought it sometimes for the reason I have, I thought 622 00:46:38,880 --> 00:46:42,280 God, and it feels kind of hard there. 623 00:46:42,280 --> 00:46:45,560 You know, it's you let up a little bit there. 624 00:46:47,560 --> 00:46:52,240 No, because I have a vision to part when he sets down, he has a 625 00:46:52,240 --> 00:46:58,760 vision of the completed. He's not just spin that thing 626 00:46:58,760 --> 00:47:01,920 around. Well, we'll just kind of see 627 00:47:01,960 --> 00:47:05,880 what, see what goes, you know? No, he has a vision of the 628 00:47:05,880 --> 00:47:11,680 finished work. And sister Jen, he has one for 629 00:47:11,680 --> 00:47:15,600 your life. And Samantha, he has one for 630 00:47:15,600 --> 00:47:19,120 your life. Zachary, Megan, he has one for 631 00:47:19,120 --> 00:47:21,960 your life. And Brandon, he has one for your 632 00:47:21,960 --> 00:47:25,680 life. He's seeing further down the 633 00:47:25,680 --> 00:47:28,840 road than what's setting on the wheel. 634 00:47:30,040 --> 00:47:34,320 And so since he sees that, apply it where you need to apply it, 635 00:47:34,320 --> 00:47:36,600 Lord. Shape it where you need to shape 636 00:47:36,600 --> 00:47:38,600 it, Lord. Put the water where you need to 637 00:47:38,600 --> 00:47:41,840 put it, Lord. Because I'd rather be reshaped 638 00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:47,560 than shattered. Can we raise our hands right now 639 00:47:47,560 --> 00:47:49,360 to the Lord? This altar is open. 640 00:47:49,640 --> 00:47:52,960 There could be someone here tonight, Pastor McGee. 641 00:47:53,760 --> 00:47:58,080 I I felt myself leaning toward a rigidness in my life in certain 642 00:47:58,080 --> 00:48:02,840 areas. I've noticed myself that I've 643 00:48:02,840 --> 00:48:06,440 almost drawed lines in the sand for God as certain areas of 644 00:48:06,440 --> 00:48:10,920 life, Sir or ma'am. Let let his hand touch that. 645 00:48:11,640 --> 00:48:14,680 Let the Potter's hand rest upon that. 646 00:48:20,160 --> 00:48:24,840 He has your good in mine. He has your good in mine. 647 00:48:26,360 --> 00:48:28,280 Yeah, yeah. Come on. 648 00:48:28,560 --> 00:48:31,080 Some of us, we, we need to touch our minds. 649 00:48:31,480 --> 00:48:33,440 Some of us, he needs to touch our hearts. 650 00:48:33,840 --> 00:48:35,840 Some of us he needs to touch our lips. 651 00:48:36,160 --> 00:48:37,880 Some of us he needs to touch our ears. 652 00:48:37,880 --> 00:48:40,840 He, he needs to touch us. He needs to touch areas. 653 00:48:42,040 --> 00:48:44,720 Hallelujah. You know, in no better position 654 00:48:44,720 --> 00:48:47,200 for demaring than being in his hands. 655 00:48:47,440 --> 00:48:50,440 That's a safe place to be. That's an appropriate place to 656 00:48:50,440 --> 00:48:52,320 be. A place where he can shape. 657 00:48:52,320 --> 00:48:55,160 A place where he can touch. A place where he can form. 658 00:48:55,520 --> 00:48:56,880 God, I don't want to become rigid. 659 00:48:56,880 --> 00:48:58,280 I don't want to become unchanged. 660 00:48:58,640 --> 00:49:01,720 I don't want to be inflexible. I want to be forgiving. 661 00:49:01,720 --> 00:49:04,840 God, to the hands of a master Potter. 662 00:49:05,320 --> 00:49:07,600 You see, Lord, what you're doing in me. 663 00:49:07,800 --> 00:49:10,120 You see God, what you're doing in my family. 664 00:49:10,280 --> 00:49:12,320 You see, God, What you're doing around me. 665 00:49:12,600 --> 00:49:15,520 You see, God, You have. You haven't expected in for me, 666 00:49:15,560 --> 00:49:17,520 God. You have the future for me. 667 00:49:17,520 --> 00:49:21,480 God, how am I shy? Come on, Sir man. 668 00:49:22,280 --> 00:49:23,440 Hallelujah. Come on. 669 00:49:23,440 --> 00:49:26,040 Sure, ma'am. Oh, but I'm flawed. 670 00:49:26,080 --> 00:49:28,080 That's all right. You got a Potter tonight. 671 00:49:28,760 --> 00:49:30,880 Oh, but, Brother McGee, sometimes I just feel like 672 00:49:30,880 --> 00:49:32,160 damaged goods. That's all right. 673 00:49:32,160 --> 00:49:34,440 You got a Potter tonight. Let him mow. 674 00:49:34,840 --> 00:49:38,240 Let him remake after his counsel, after his will. 675 00:49:38,440 --> 00:49:42,720 Let him shave. What seems good unto him. 676 00:49:43,080 --> 00:49:45,400 What seems good unto him?