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Let's start off our service with a word of prayer. Lord God, Heavenly Father, I thank you for giving us this day. I thank you for giving us this church, Lord, with like-minded brethren that we can come together and fellowship, Lord, and hear the preaching of your word. And I thank you, Lord, Heavenly Father, for the souls that were saved this afternoon. And Lord God, Father, I pray that you would please just bless this service, Lord, bless every aspect of the service, bless the singing. And I pray that you would all feel pastored and healed with your spirit as he preaches your word that we may leave here at five. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. All right, let's all turn in our song books to song number 43. Song number 43, we're marching to Zion. Song number 43, all together on that first verse. Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord, join in a song with sweet accord. And thus surround the throne, and thus surround the throne. We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God. Let those we refuse to see who never knew are God. But children of the heavenly King, what children of the heavenly King may speak their joys abroad, may speak their joys abroad. We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God. The hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred streets before we reach the heavenly field, before we reach the heavenly field. For walk the golden streets, for walk the golden streets. We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God. Then let our songs abound, then every tear be dried. We're marching through Immanuel's ground, we're marching through Immanuel's ground. To fairer worlds of high, to fairer worlds of high. We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God. All right, great singing. Thank you for being here this evening. Just a few announcements before we sing our next song, which will be song number 400. I wish I had given him more, song number 400. Our services are as follows. Sunday morning is at 1030. Sunday evening is at 5 p.m. And then, of course, we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock. We're currently going through the Book of First Samuel on Thursday evenings. So hope to see you there. You see the so many times and teams, the list of expecting mothers, if you can continue to keep them in prayer, that all would go well with their pregnancy as well as their delivery. You see the important reminders there and some of the upcoming church events. Miss Olivia Lee's baby shower was this afternoon. Hope the ladies had a great time. And then on Sunday, January 30th is Miss DJ's bridal shower. You can actually contact my wife for more details about that if you need any information. And then, as I mentioned this morning, the Pastoral Institute begins on Friday, February 4th, and that'll be at 8 p.m. So we'll have coffee and donuts and all that beforehand. And then the first hour we'll be preaching. So for six weeks straight, the first hour, eight o'clock, we'll be preaching. Second hour will just be different topics that we're going to be covering for six weeks. And so the last day to register is on January 23rd. Of course, I don't necessarily need to say this, but maybe I just should. It's free, okay, so you don't have to pay anything to register or anything like that. But you do need to sign up so we can get a head count of that. And just as a reminder, if you come to those classes, of course, it's only for men and those who are really serious about just learning how to be a pastor or learning the pastor, just to be a greater asset to the church. But if you miss one class period, then you can't come back until we offer the institute once again the following year. So just keep that in mind. But sign up so we can get a head count of that. And then the Valentine's Couples activities on Saturday, February 12th, that'll be here at the building. And we'll have, what is it called, Lucille's. We're going to have Lucille's, and then we'll have some games, a little sermonette on Valentine's. And so hope to see you there. There's a sign up sheet in the back so we can know how many people are coming to that. And then Ariel's Baby Shower is coming up on Sunday, February 13th. And Quiet Time, of course, you see that resumes on Sunday afternoons. No drink or food allowed in the main auditorium except for water and coffee. And make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service. This is going to take some soul winning numbers from this past week. Salvations from Monday to Thursday. Any Salvations from Monday to Thursday? Seven. Okay. Anybody else? Okay. Friday and Saturday. Any Salvations from Friday and Saturday? How about this afternoon? Salvations for this afternoon? Two for the Glens team? One for the Morris team? Three. Anybody else for this afternoon? Going once? Yes. Two. Okay. Great. Anybody else? Did I miss anybody? Okay. Keep up the great work on soul winning. Let's go on and sing our next song. Song number 400 in your songbooks. Song number 400. I wish I had given him more altogether on that first verse. By and by when I look on his face, beautiful face or shadowed face. By and by when I look on his face, I wish I had given him more. More, so much more, more of my life than I ever gave before. By and by when I look on his face, I wish I had given him more. By and by when he holds out his hands, welcoming hands, male within hands. By and by when he holds out his hands, I wish I had given him more. More, so much more, more of my life than I ever gave before. By and by when he holds out his hands, I wish I had given him more. In the life of that heavenly place, mine from his face, beautiful face. In the life of that heavenly place, I wish I had given him more. More, so much more, treasures unfounded for him I adore. By and by when I look on his face, I wish I had given him more. Amen. Wonderful singing. At this time, the ushers will come forward to collect the offering, and you can turn in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter number 64. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Tonight we're in Isaiah chapter 64, and the Bible reads, O that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest comest down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence. As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence. When thou didst terrible things which we look not for, thou camest down, the mountains flow down at thy presence. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways. Behold, thou art wroth, for we have sinned. In those is continuance, and we shall be saved. We are all as an unclean thing, on all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee. For thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. But now, O Lord, thou art our Father, we are the clay, and thou art potter, and we all are the work of thy hand. Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity forever. Behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people. Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire, and all our present things are laid waste. Would thou refrain thyself for these things, O Lord? Wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore? Let's pray. Dear Lord, we thank you for this church and everyone in it, Lord, and we thank you for pastor that you've given us, Lord, and we pray now that you fill in with your Holy Spirit, and pray that the people here are edified by the preaching of your word, Lord, and we pray all these things in Jesus' name, Amen. Okay, we're in Isaiah chapter 64, look down at your Bibles at verse number 6, it says, But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee, for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us because of our iniquities. But now, O Lord, thou art our Father, and we are the clay, and thou our potter, and we are all the work of thy hand. And the title of my sermon this evening is We Are the Clay. We are the clay. And here in Isaiah 64, we have a great allegory that illustrates God's involvement in his children's affair. And obviously, we understand that Isaiah 64, and a lot of what we see in the Old Testament, is God dealing with a specific nation, right, dealing with Israel. But that doesn't mean that we can't take principles of things that he stated towards that nation, and apply it to us as individuals, New Testament believers. And this is definitely one principle that we can definitely learn for ourselves, because of the fact that it actually carries over into the New Testament of this fact that we are but clay. So he depicts himself as a potter, molding the clay into a vessel. And I want to extrapolate some principles that we can learn from this very common illustration that we actually see in the Bible. Now go with me if you would to Psalm 103, if you would, Psalm 103. Of course, clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil, material that's used in ceramics and pottery to make various kinds of vessels. And here in Isaiah 64, God says that he's like the potter, and he's constantly molding the nation of Israel to be a vessel, and to honor, to fulfill his will as an instrument, to make it into some sort of vessel and instrument to carry out his purpose here in this world. And we can apply that to ourselves. Now let me give you a couple things here that we can learn from the fact that we are clay. Number one is the fact that clay is basically dirt. And so what's the principle that we can learn from that? Well, we're dirt, really, at the end of the day. He said, well, that seems kind of harsh. I don't know if I would want to call myself dirt. Well, let me read to you from Genesis chapter 2, verse number 5. It says, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For the Lord God hath not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed a man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into it his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. So according to the Bible, Adam was formed of the what? The dust. So really, clay, you know, is just a nicer way of saying dirt or dust, to be honest with you. Genesis chapter 3 goes on to say in verse 18, Thorns also and thistles shall they bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground, for out of it was thou taken. For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. So according to the Bible, you know, we came from dust, but the Bible even says that when we die, our bodies are buried into the ground. Eventually, over the years, it begins to decay, and rot, and just fall apart. It eventually goes back to dust. And that reminder there is that, really, we're not as high and lofty as a lot of people think that we can be, right? We shouldn't be prideful, we shouldn't be arrogant, we shouldn't be a people who think very highly of ourselves because of the fact that, essentially, we're but dust. Essentially, we're but dirt. Essentially, we're just clay here in this earth. Look at Psalm 103, verse 11. It says, For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them that fear him. As far as the east is from west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. That's a great verse, amen. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame, the Bible says, and he remembereth that we are dust. You see, the fact of the matter is, is that God is very long-suffering towards us, he's merciful towards us, he's gracious, and the reality is this, is that at any time, God can just take away our lives, right? He can keep us from breathing, he can just completely decimate and destroy our lives, destroy our finances, destroy our health, just completely remove the rug out from under us if he wanted to, but he doesn't, why? Because he's merciful to us. And why is he merciful? Well, because of the fact that here it says in verse 14 that he knows our frame. He knows how fragile we are, he knows that we are but dust, and so that's why he's long-suffering towards us, it's because he knows he can simply just, and just completely destroy us, right? For as a man, his days are as grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth, it goes on to say. You know, we don't have any value outside of Christ, to be honest with you. And it's only as a Christian that we find any purpose or value that we, you know, have gifts and talents that God has bestowed upon us, but we're nothing outside of Christ, we're actually just dirt, we're clay, we're simply dust, according to the Bible. And it's for that reason that we should be humble. You know, the Bible tells us that God resisted the proud and giveth grace unto the humble. And pride is one of the most wicked sins in the Bible, okay? God is constantly talking about pride, he's constantly addressing this matter of arrogance, he's constantly talking about a proud look. Why? Because people, mankind, just in his nature has a tendency, a propensity to become proud. You know, and for what reason? You know, what is it that we have done, what is it that you have done that really would cause us to think that we're something? And God has to constantly humble us if we're not willing to humble ourselves. So really, you know, this point is to show us that, you know, before God has to pull the rug out from under you and knock you off your high horse, it's good to just meditate and think upon the fact that we're nothing. Outside of Christ, we're nothing. And you know what, if you've been blessed with certain talents, if you've been given certain gifts, if God has blessed you with a great family, with a Christian home, if he's given you a great wife, if he's given you a great husband, if he's given you children, if he's given you knowledge and wisdom, you know, don't take it for granted, be humble about it. Don't think that you're better than anybody else just because God has blessed you with these things because the reality is this, just as Nebuchadnezzar, he could just remove those things in just an instant if you wanted to. We are but dust. We're clay. We're nothing outside of Christ. Go with me, if you would, to Ecclesiastes chapter number 12. Ecclesiastes chapter number 12, the Bible says in Psalm 39 verse number 4, Lord, make me to know mine end and the measure of my days. What is it that I may know how frail I am? God says we need to know and think upon our end. Why? Because it helps us to realize how fragile we really are. Let me give you a profound truth here. You're going to die one day. You will die one day. And you know what? All the gains that you make here on this side of eternity will count for nothing. All the good, you know, healthy foods that you eat and everything you do to live a healthy life and all those things will mean nothing. Why? Because at the end of the day, we're going to die. We're fragile. Our lives can be taken just like that. And God says, you know, or should I say David, through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, is saying, help me to know mine end. You know, it's good to think about death every once in a while. To understand that one day it will come upon us because it helps us to recognize that we're but clay. We're dust. We're dirt. We're nothing necessarily special outside of Christ. Look what the Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse number 5. It says, also when they shall be afraid of that which is high and fear shall be in the way and the almond tree shall flourish and the grasshopper should be a burden and the desire shall fail because man goeth to his long home and the mourners go about the streets or ever the silver cord be loosed or the golden bowl be broken or the pitcher be broken at the fountain or the wheel broken at the cistern then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Go back a couple chapters to chapter number 3 of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes chapter number 3 and then we're going to go to Philippians. Ecclesiastes 3 verse 19 says, For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts, even one thing befalleth them, as the one dieth so dieth the other, yea, they have all one breath, so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast for all his vanity. He says, you don't have any preeminence above an animal. Obviously we understand that we're important in animals, right? We don't want to take this verse and misconstrue it to think that that gorilla who's attacking that child is far more important than the child. Put that thing down, right? The point that this is driving is the fact that just as the animal dies, you can die just as fast too. He says in verse 20, All go unto one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth? Go to Philippians chapter number 2. Philippians chapter number 2. One of the sure ways that you can not be blessed of God is to be proud. Is to become arrogant. Is to think that, you know, you've gained successes and achieved accomplishments based upon your efforts and what you do, not based upon what God does. You know, one of the greatest definitions of humility that I've heard throughout my Christian life is this. Humility is recognizing that you're basically the compilation of everyone else's investment in you. Really, that's what humility is. It's recognizing that God and others are responsible for your success. That's what it is. You know, hey, and teenagers and young children, you need to listen to this and recognize, you know, be thankful for your parents. Oh, yeah, but you don't know my parents, and they're not godly, or they don't read the Bible. Yeah, but you are where you are because of the effort of your parents. You wouldn't be where you're at if it wasn't for your parents. There's some element, they did something right. Let's put it that way. Yeah, but I can point out like a hundred other things that they did wrong. Yeah, but here's the thing, if you're in this church and you're saved, and you have a Bible in your lap, and you're serving the Lord, you know, you can attribute something to your parents that they're responsible for that. And you should. No, it was by my will, and of course, you know, we preach against Reformed Theology, but you know, it's my will, I made myself do it, and I made sure that I was here, and it was, you know, it was all me. You're just prideful and arrogant. And when you're prideful and arrogant, God will resist that. He will abase you, He will embarrass you, He will shame you, because no one can stand before God with a proud heart. Give credit where credit's due, amen. Look at Philippians chapter 2 verse 1, it says, If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded, having the same love being of one accord of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, listen to this, but in lowliness of mind. That's another way of saying humility, a humble mind. Let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Now who's the man? Jesus Christ is the man. Right, He's God in the flesh, He's sinless, He fulfilled all of God's commandments perfectly, yet He Himself, according to the Bible, humbled Himself. Look what it says, verse 6, who being in the form of God, thought in thy robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation. Hey this is good for those who only want reputation, right? They want the title, they want the position, well Jesus Christ made Himself of no reputation. When He came He was worthy to be king, He was worthy to be praised, He was worthy of all the glory, but yet when they sought to make Him a king, He refused that, He made Himself of no reputation. Took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Folks, if Jesus Christ who is God in the flesh can humble Himself, then we can too. Or should I say we should too, right? The Bible says in Luke 14 verse 11, for whosoever exalted themselves shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. This is very important because of the fact that, you know, if we're not careful, you know, there's a lot of principles in the Bible that help us to be successful. We obey certain principles in the Bible, and we achieve certain things, right? We learn integrity, we learn character and diligence through the word of God, but then, you know, sometimes if you're not careful you can allow that to go to your head still, and think well by my might and by my strength it's because of my obedience and my diligence. Make sure you deflect praise to God and to others for your achievements. You know, and here's a good way to do it, young people. Make sure tonight you go to your parents and say thank you for your investment in my life, mom. Thank you for your investment in my life, dad. Thank you for everything that you've done for me, for wiping my butt when I was a little baby, giving me a roof over my head, and doing the best that you can to raise me right. You know, because children have a tendency, especially as they get older, to focus on the negative stuff that their parents did. And just to let you know, you're going to be a parent one day too. So you better sow some good seeds. You know, instead of pointing out all the flaws of your parents and being so prideful and arrogant because, you know, everything's handed to you with the silver spoon in the Christian life, you were just kind of born into this movement, you're in church already, you know, I'm sure your parents would have loved to have been in church when they were kids. But it's given to you, so be humble about it. And don't think you're better than your parents, don't think you're better than someone else who maybe didn't have it just like you. Be humble about it, be thankful for it, unless God should abase you. Amen? Go to Psalm 40 if you would, Psalm 40. And then we're going to go to Romans chapter number 8. So we are but clay, folks. You know, this sermon is to help us to recognize where do we come from. We are from the dust, we are from the dirt, that is where we will return, we are the clay. But, so outside of that, we don't really have any intrinsic value, outside of Christ we don't have intrinsic value. But here's the thing is that God can make something out of us. Right? So there's one view that we can say, you know what, we're nothing without Christ, we have nothing outside of the Lord, and He makes us, you know, for His purpose, but here's the thing is that He can make us into something. As the potter molds the clay, God fashions the believer as well. Every vessel has a purpose. Look at Psalm 40 verse 1, it says, I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God, many shall see it in fear, and shall trust in the Lord. Go to Romans chapter number 8, if you would, Romans chapter number 8. Psalm 119 verse 73 says, Thy hands have made me and fashioned me, give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments. Remember this, you know, in Christ, yeah, you know, we're nothing, we're dust and we're clay, but there is this operation of God where He makes us into something. Now, what is it that He's making? Well, the Bible says that we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God had before ordained that we should walk in them. So He's making us for a purpose, but more specifically for His purpose. It's not necessarily so that you can become some big shot, or get really rich, or become really famous. You know, the purpose is to win people to Christ, to glorify His name, to fulfill His commandments. I remember years ago, when I was working at this telemarketing company, I had just gotten saved, and I remember I was on break, and there was a girl that I was talking to, and I was trying to witness to her. You know, I was giving her the gospel on our break, and you know, I'm preaching her the gospel, and she's really attentive. You know, she was just like, wow, you know, she's just like, this is amazing, and all this stuff. And I'm just going through each point. I had just learned how to sow in within the last probably 12 months at that point, and you know, I'm giving her the gospel, and I'm just like, man, this is in the bag. She's going to get saved. And I'm giving her the gospel, I'm preaching, I'm giving her these verses, and she's like hanging on every word. I mean, like, you know what I'm talking about. You know, when you're out sowing, you're like, this is probably pretty much in the bag. Like, this looks like it's going well. You know what I mean? I might have to baptize this person right on the spot, afterwards or something, you know. So you're just, I'm giving her the gospel, and then at the end of the gospel presentation, you know, I explained to her, I'm like, do you understand what I just explained? She goes, absolutely, I get it. And she responds with this, she says, what you're telling me is that God wants me to be a model. That's what you're saying, right? And I, I was like speechless. Because I never really experienced that before. You know what I mean? Like, it was from left field. It was so from left field, I was just like, I was flabbergasted. I was in chalk. You know, I was just kind of like, what? She goes, what you're saying is that you want me to be, or that God wants me to be a supermodel. You know? That's what God wants for my life. And I told her, I was like, no. I don't think I even brought up the subject of supermodel ever. I'm like, what in the world? You know, and obviously she was just kind of going along to get along. That's what she wanted. This is everything, you know, these are her aspirations and her ambitions. So she just wanted to mold God's will into fulfilling what she wanted to do or something, you know. And just completely ignored everything else that I said. And at that point, I just kind of got up and I walked away. I was so frustrated, I was like, this girl's dumb. And that's an extreme example, but you know what? You know, Christians can be like that too. Right? Where they kind of almost try to use the Bible to justify their ambitions and their goals and what they want for their lives. Now look folks, I think we should be successful in this life. I think, you know, people should be successful at their jobs. I think, you know, you should make money. Amen? I think you should pay your bills. I think you should enjoy life. But here's the thing, I think it should come second to serving God. Right? And I think you could have both. I believe you could have both. But let me just say this, a lot of Christians don't have the character to have both. Right? They don't have the integrity to have both. Okay? Look at Romans chapter 8, if you would. Romans chapter number 8. There is a purpose, you know, God does make us for a purpose. It says in verse 26, likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought. But the Spirit itself maketh intercessions for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit because he maketh intercessions for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose, for whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. He might be the firstborn among many brethren. You know what the main purpose of God is for our lives? Is to be like Jesus. Right? To be conformed to the image of his Son. So this is great, because a lot of people out there, they're always looking for the will of God. Like, what's God's will for my life? Well, start with this. Be conformed to the image of his Son. Yeah, but I want to know like the specific will, like supermodel stuff, you know what I mean? Like, I want that specific, what is that? Well, why don't you fulfill this will, and then I can tell you later that being a supermodel is not God's will for your life. And here's the thing, when you strive to be conformed to the image of Christ, and you work to that end, you know, a lot of your goals and your ambitions begin to shift. Right? Or, you can have the same goals and ambitions, but now you're more heavenly minded in that regard. Now you realize, you know what, it's not about being rich, it's not about being X, Y, and Z. You know, it's about doing this so that I can fulfill the purpose of God. To get more people saved, to raise my children and nurture in the admonition of the Lord, to be a person who is glorifying God with my marriage, you know, to be a blessing and an asset to my church, etc. Be conformed to the image of his Son. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter number 4. So he does have a purpose for you. He has a purpose for me, he has a purpose for you. Now I think people can take this to an extreme. Where it's like, well God, the only purpose for God in your life is for you to be a pastor, be a missionary, or a pastor's wife or something. Like those are the only things that you can do. And I remember being a part, you know, of the old IFB, where, you know, it almost seemed as though the pastors, the missionaries, and those who did full time ministry were like the first class citizens of God's will or something. And then everyone else is just second class. You know, the people in the congregation, they're not really doing God's will, you know what I mean? And I remember just being in Bible college, and if some Bible college student dropped out and got a job or something, it was like, oh, that person's backslid. It's like, well, did they get out of church? No, they're still in church, you know. I mean, are they still like reading their Bibles and stuff? Yeah, they're still doing all that, but they're not in Bible college, though. They're not fulfilling God's purpose. Well, I'm sorry, but Bible college is not even part of God's purpose. There is no thou shalt go to Bible college in the Bible. However, there is a not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as a matter of some is. And you know what? You know, in 2022, we as churches need to redefine what it is to be in God's will. Right? We need to redefine what it is to mean to be in God's will. Being in God's will is like this, being in church. We have a room full of people here who are in God's will at this moment. Because you're in church. You know, being in God's will is being in the Bible. Being in God's will is winning souls to Christ. Being in God's will is being a good employee at your job. Being in God's will is being a good husband and a good wife and seeking to fulfill your biblical roles in life. Now, if you're not fulfilling those things, then obviously you're not in God's will. If you're not just fulfilling the bare basics. But, you know, to say that you can only be in God's will if you're a pastor, if you're a missionary, if you are working full time for the church or something like that is nonsense. Nonsensical, folks. You know, obviously, I'm in God's will even though I'm a pastor. But so can you even though you're in the pew listening to me yell at you right now. Because you're fulfilling God's purpose. Now, there are specific purposes, right? Like God obviously, you know, reveals the specific purpose as you do the revealed will of God. He will show you the specific will of God. You know, I being in the way the Lord led me. What are one of those specific or revealed wills? Look at 2 Corinthians 4 verse 3. It says, But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine into them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Look what it says in verse 7. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels. You know why? Because we're the clay. And as we're the clay and we're conformed to the image of Christ, God begins to mold us, well into what? Well, into vessels that are able to hold in this treasure. Earth and vessels referring to our bodies. He says we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. So you know what God's specific will is for every one of our lives? It's to preach the gospel to every creature. And if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. Why? Because we're not shining forth the gospel. We're not singing forth the praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. So instead of trying to look for some specific will, some secret will out there of what kind of millionaire God wants you to be for what company, why don't you fulfill this will right here which is to be a vessel that houses the treasure that this world needs, which is the gospel, to get people saved. That's a sure way to keep yourself in the will of God. It's to win people to Christ. Go to 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2. Alright brother Ulysses, where is he at? He's not fulfilling his will right now. Tell him to turn it on. Alright, now he's back in his will. Now he's back in the will. Look at verse 19 of 2 Timothy chapter 2. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his, and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. So according to this verse, in order for us to be vessels unto honor, there's certain things that we got to get away from. Certain things that we got to purge our lives from, so we can be useful to the Lord, right? Now how does God fashion us? Okay, what does he use to fashion us? Well, I was talking to Caitlin earlier, and she actually has done a little bit of pottery, I think, you know, ceramic work. And she was saying that one of the ways that she fashions clay is with fire. That's how you fashion it. So she, you know, I don't know how they do it, but you know, you got the mud in your hands or whatever, and you're molded into a vessel as she's moving the wheel and fashions it. But when she wants it to be solidified to be finally used, she puts it into like an oven or something for fire to basically harden that vessel to be used. Okay? So how does God fashion us? Well, the same way. He puts us through the fire. The Bible says in 1 Peter 1, verse 7, that the trial of your faith being much more precious than that of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be founded to praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. You see, in order for us to be vessels and to honor me for the master's use, it requires a little bit of fire. Trials. Difficulties. Hardships. Tribulation. And you know, some Christians don't like that. I mean, I don't even like that. I'll just be honest with you. Trials are not pleasant. And don't come to me after the service like, oh no, I love tribulation. I love trials. Let's do it. You all right? They're not pleasant. Trials are not pleasant. Fire is not pleasant. Why? Because trials, fire purges us. It prunes us. It removes the impurities from our lives and it humbles us. You know another way of saying humbling? Here's another way. Embarrasses us. Shames us. But we need trials in our life. Now thankfully, we don't have to live constantly in a trial. Right? We don't constantly live in the fire. God constantly has us on that wheel, and it's spinning and he's molding us to what he wants us to be. But you know, when you are going through a trial, don't think that God has forsaken you. Don't think that he no longer loves you. Now it's good that when you're going through a trial, you kind of ask yourself, well, did I bring this upon myself? Is there some sort of sin that I've committed that's causing God to chastise me? Right? It's always good to examine ourselves in that manner because if you're saved, you're not a bastard. You're a son. God's going to chase in those whom he loves. And he does it through trials. Right? But if after you've kind of assessed the situation, you're like, well, I'm in church, I feel like I'm doing God's will, I don't have sin in my life, you know, I'm not doing anything wrong, then just mark it down. God is simply putting you through a trial to prune away all the impurities, to remove the things that he's not pleased with in your life, to make you a vessel and to honor me for the master's use. Now one of the worst things that you can do when you're in a trial is get out of church. Which, you know, interestingly enough is like the first thing someone does when they go through a trial. Oh, I just need to take a break. I just need a break real quick from, you know, being in church. I just need to really think things through or something like that. It's like the worst thing you can do. The worst thing you can do is stop reading your Bible. The worst thing you can do is stop praying. You know, what you need to do is just endure the trial. Now how do you endure a trial? By staying in church even though you're hurting. By reading your Bible even though you don't feel like it. By praying even though you're weak. By taking care of your responsibilities even though you don't feel like doing it. That's how the trial is. Now the question is this, how long do trials typically last for? Well, I asked Caitlin, how long do they keep a vessel in that oven? And she said it really depends. Sometimes a couple hours, she said even a couple days. Really depends on the vessel, I guess, right? Well guess what, sometimes it depends on what kind of vessel you are. Sometimes maybe the most stubborn vessels stay in the fire a little longer. So what do I do about that? Well revisit the first point about being humble. Because I'd rather just be humble and just get it over with and just go through the fire, have him purge me and let's just move on to the next chapter. But sometimes, you know, God has to bring that lesson back over and over and over again. And we don't pass the lesson that he's given to us the first time, it's gonna come back around again. That's how it works. So in order for us, for God to make the clay into the vessel and to honor me for the master's use, it requires fire, pain, tribulation. And I'm telling you this beforehand because it's gonna happen to you. It's gonna happen. You're gonna experience a death, you're gonna experience health issues, you're gonna experience financial issues, you're gonna experience betrayal, you're gonna experience bitterness, you're gonna experience some sort of pain and it's gonna be a temptation to get out of the oven and just kind of do your own thing instead to try to figure things out on your own. But what you need is just a refiner's fire to just remove those impurities from you. Allow trials to just get you closer to the Lord, right? Not away from God. How else does he mold us into what he wants us to be? Well, he does it through preaching in the Bible. You know, sometimes people come to church and maybe they're struggling with a specific sin but then I call out that sin, it instills the fear of God in their lives to repent of that sin and get it right. It causes a little shame when we highlight that specific sin of fornication. When we talk about the specific sin of drunkenness. When we talk about the sin of laziness. We rebuke that sin which causes shame for the recipient who is guilty of that sin and they remove it from their lives. Sometimes it comes through leaders. Sometimes it comes through fellow Christians. That's why I'm thankful that our church is like a family, amen? Because we need that. The Bible says open rebuke is better than secret love. That's what the Bible tells us. Sometimes we need to be told that we're wrong. We need to be corrected. We need to be rebuked in order for us to grow. In order for us to be molded into what God wants us to be. Go to Isaiah chapter 45 if you would. Isaiah chapter 45. Folks, make no mistake about it. Hard preaching changes lives. Hard preaching is not popular preaching. Hard preaching is not the most palatable preaching but it works. It works. I mentioned this morning regarding the clip that's being put out or whatever of me. Rebuking John MacArthur. Thank you. That devil. People are really upset. I've had people in sincerity contact me and say, brother, what's going on? They feel like I'm just distraught or something like that. They're just like, I'm praying for you. I just want to know what's the purpose of this? Why are you saying these things? There's so much hate coming from that pulpit. I'm just like, these are some good compliments. And I tell them, because sometimes there's trolls, obviously. A lot of trolls on social media. Some people are just idiots. A lot of people are very sincere. And they sincerely want to know because they've heard my other sermons and they like what I'm saying but they just don't agree with this little thing because it's like their hero that I'm messing with here. And I specifically tell them, this kind of preaching is not for everyone. Not everyone can handle this kind of preaching, I said. And I said, he that hath an ear, let him hear. That's all it is. And they're just like, well, you know, but it just seems so harsh. I'm like, yeah, it's really harsh. The things that I said were very harsh. Very hard. And not everyone can receive these things. That's what I told them. I said, but I appreciate, I get where you're coming from, I told them. I understand what you're saying. And I get where you're coming from. But I'm just telling you, not everyone can handle this type of preaching. So why do I preach like this? Because I know it's effective. I know it cleans up people's lives. How do you know? Because it's cleaned up my life. How do you know this type of hard, harsh preaching doesn't turn people away from the Lord? Because I didn't turn away from the Lord. When I heard hard preaching, it changed my life. It made me more righteous. It put me on the path of the word of God. It made me love souls more. It made me hate sin more. It put me on the right path. So it's proof that hard preaching does change lives, folks. And it removed the impurities from my personal life. This is how the clay is molded into the vessel that's meat for the master's use. It's through hard preaching. Folks, soft preaching, gay preaching doesn't help anybody. So it doesn't help anybody. A little motivational speech. I mean, I try to make this sermon very motivational, by the way. I don't know if you noticed. I'm trying to exhort you. I'm trying to be very nice. Make this very palatable. But sometimes the other stuff leaks out, you know? And by the way, you know, we need encouraging sermons for sure. We need encouraging sermons and we need to know that God still loves us and that he's gracious towards us and we need the mercy of the Lord. But let me say this, we also need the other stuff, too. Because that helps us. You know, the vessel needs a little bit of water, right, to mold it. But ultimately it needs the fire, too. Okay. And so, what's another principle that we can learn from being the clay? Well, another thing is this. Be content with how God made you. Be content with the gifts that he's given to you, the family that he's placed you in, the talents that he's bestowed upon you, you know, the country that you're in, the state that you're in. Be thankful he put you in commifornia. Be thankful that you are dark. Be thankful that you're white. Be thankful that you're short. Be thankful that you're tall. Be thankful for how God made you. Don't complain how the potter has molded you. Look at Isaiah 45, verse 9. Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker. Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioned it? What makest thou, or thy work he hath no hands? And of course, this is reiterated in the New Testament as can the thing form say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Why did you make me so short? Why did you make me so skinny? Obviously a lot of us can't say, why did you make me so fat? Because that's my fault. Our fault. But hey, why did you give me small arms? Or why did you give me skinny calves or something like that? There's a lot of people who are just, they're not happy with how God made them. Right? If you don't believe me, look at the plastic surgery in this world and how much money goes into plastic surgery, implants, calf implants, there's even ab implants. It's insane. Liposuction and all these things. I mean, people are very dissatisfied with how they look. Now obviously, if you can modify yourself a little bit naturally, there's nothing wrong with that. Dieting or exercising. But be happy with who you are. Be happy with the talents that God gave you. You know, oh man, I just don't like being a Mexican or something like that, you know? I wish I wasn't, you know, Asian or something and why do I have to be this color or something like that? Because that's what God wanted you to be. So be happy about it. Why do I have to speak like this? Because that's your language. So just embrace it. Can the thing formed say to him that formed it? Why hast thou made me thus? And the answer is no, you can't. Folks, we're beautifully and wonderfully made. Okay? Be thankful for how you look, the talents that God has given to you, where you are at. Don't become discontent where God has placed you. You know, don't be content with the church that God has given to you, amen? Amen? Just kidding. Be happy. He's like, man, this is, hey look, I heard a story one time of a lady and she was a widow and she had gone blind in her old age. But she always had just a good disposition about life. And even when she lost her husband, she had a great attitude. You know, it got to a point where she was getting up there in age that her children couldn't take care of her. Now obviously I don't agree with that, but you know, they put her in a home basically, right? But it was a nice home. It had all the fixings and everything like that and they were gonna take care of her. And the person who was walking her to her room basically told her like, you know, and she wasn't fully blind. Her eyes were growing dim. She couldn't see as well. You're gonna see your room. You're gonna love it. It's beautiful. And she said, I know. It's gonna be, I know it's beautiful. It's gorgeous. She's like, well, did you see the room? She said, no, I don't have to. I don't need to see the room. Because me being satisfied with the room is not based upon whether how the room looks. It's just my disposition and my outlook that makes the difference. So I'm already satisfied. I'm already happy with the room and the attitude that we can learn from where, you know what? Instead of murmuring and complaining about what you don't have, just be thankful for what you do have. You know, instead of like, man, well, what's up with these pillars here and you know, why is the ceiling like this and why does this look, why'd you guys paint that wall like that and why don't you just be like, this is awesome. This is great. What do you mean, amen? Excuse me. What's up with this carpet? Why don't you just be thankful for what you have? Right? Oh, you know, yeah, my husband, he's like all this bad stuff and he just lacks character and all, you know. Why don't you just be thankful for the good stuff that he does? Why don't you just be thankful for the fact that he brings home the bacon? Yeah, but I don't even like bacon, though. Just be happy for what you have. You'll be a lot happier person if you're just thankful. And look, here's a good way to be thankful. Let me show you how to be thankful. Don't expect anything. Don't expect anything and you'll always be grateful for what you get. Because if you don't expect anything when you do get something, you're like, wow, I didn't expect this, this is great. And so, you know, be thankful for how God made you. Don't dispute with the Lord and say, man, why can't I sing or something? Or why can't I play an instrument? Or why can't I preach? And why can't I do those things? But what can you do, though? Why focus on the things that you can't do that you're not good at? Why don't you focus on the things that you are good at? Okay, go to John chapter nine, if you will. John chapter nine. Talk about the clay here. You're here for such a time as this. You're in this church for a purpose. God has a purpose for your life. Man, I feel like a prosperity preacher here. You know, God has a plan for your life, you know? But it's true, though. We do have a purpose here in this life and we need to hear that every once in a while. But let me say this, you know, obviously be content with what you have but understand that God can fill in the gap of your deficiencies. You know, a potter who's molding the clay can add a handle, you know, can add a different type of base, can just mold into what he wants it to be. Whatever deficiency that particular potter or that particular clay has, he can make something out of it. He can add that which is deficient, that which is lacking. And let's just be honest, we all come into the Christian life lacking. You know, maybe it's lacking character, maybe it's lacking integrity, maybe it's lacking, you know, you fill in the blank. We all come to the Christian life lacking something but God can fill in the gap of that deficiency. Look at John chapter nine says. It says in verse number one, and as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth and his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Now that's such a stupid question. Let me explain why. Who did sin? This man or his parents, that he was born blind? Think about that. You guys get what I'm saying here? Who did sin? This man, you know, if he was born this way, how could he have sinned to cause this? Verse three, Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sin nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Look what it says in verse six. When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground in the middle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. So this man who was born blind, what did he do? He spit on the ground, made clay, and anointed his eyes and made up for his deficiency of not being able to see. I don't think it's a mistake, I don't think it's a coincidence that the Bible constantly talks about people being as clay, and yet we see here an example, God made clay. He spit on the ground, made clay, and anointed his eyes. I think what God is trying to do here is show us that God is able to make up for our deficiencies by adding to us even later on in our life. Go to First Timothy chapter one. First Timothy chapter one. So this man was born blind, he was born with a deficiency, he was handicapped, but later on in his life the Lord anointed his eyes to make up for that, and he made up for that deficiency. And I believe that's the spiritual truth that's trying to show us that if you came into the Christian life lacking certain virtues or character or talents or gifts or whatever it may be, God can make up for that to enable you to serve him better. In fact, look at First Timothy chapter one verse 12. It says in verse 12, And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord what does that mean when he says enabled me? That means he basically equipped him with something that he didn't have before. Who hath enabled me for that he counteth me faithful putting me into the ministry who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. If you're just not up to par, don't worry, God can make up for that deficiency. Now do your part. Put in some effort. Now obviously know your limits too. You want to know your limits. It's not like, well, I can do all things through Christ with strength and with me so I'm just going to learn a crazy instrument and even though I've never played any instruments before in my life or something like that and I'm just going to do it because I know God's going to enable me to do it. You might not be able to play an instrument but you can do something else. God's going to enable me to be a song leader and I'm going to sing beautifully. Well, that's not always the case though. Not everyone's born with a gifted voice. Can I get a witness? And some people know it. He knows what's up. Amen. But you know what, that shouldn't discourage you from thinking, well, I can't serve God. No, just look for somewhere else where God can enable you in. You know, because maybe you're not musically talented but maybe, you know what, maybe you got some leadership skills. Maybe you got the ability to influence others to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Maybe you know how to work with people. That's a great skill to have. Maybe you know how to have people skills. That's a great ability. That kills. You know, some people struggle with talking to other people. Man, we're just being all kinds of honest tonight, huh? We're a family, yeah. What I'm saying is that God can enable you, He can mold you into being a vessel and if you lack some deficiency, He's going to make it up. He's going to add a handle to you. He's going to add a brim. He's going to add a base. Whatever it is that's necessary He'll do it. I mean, think of Apollos, right? Apollos is preaching the word of God. He's doing what he knew God told him to do and he's preaching God's word but he was deficient in certain areas, right? He didn't know the name of Jesus Christ. He was saved but he didn't know the name of Jesus. He believed on the Christ. He's kind of, you know, in that transitional period there and what happened? Well, you had some disciples come to him, show him the way of the Lord more perfectly and then he became more effective for the ministry because he preached Christ, he preached Jesus and mightily convinced those in the synagogue of Jesus Christ. God enabled him. He added to him a handle, right? He added to him something to his vessel that would make him more effective for the ministry and let me just say this. If you want something to be added to you, just make sure it's for the right reason. It's like, Lord, I want to get paid more at my job so I can be a blessing to people around me, you know? So I can be a blessing to my family, you know? Sometimes people don't get what they ask for because they ask amiss, that they may consume it upon their own lust. Whereas, you know what, let me just say this is that God is more likely to add to you if you have a noble cause to use it for. A biblical cause. And so that's what the apostle Paul said that he was enabled. Go to Philippians chapter two, Philippians chapter two. You know, God can add people skills to you and you know, this is a great place to learn people skills. Church is a great place to learn how to interact with people and if you're deficient in that area, you know, practice with the people in our church. You're not gonna offend anybody. I mean, you might offend somebody but I'm saying like, they'll readily forgive you, though. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? They'll readily forgive you, though. You know what I mean? They'll help you, they'll readily forgive you. Seven times 70. You know, and you can learn those things, okay? You can learn how to be a great husband. You can learn how to be a great wife. You can learn child-rearing principles. You know, you're like, oh man, but I didn't grow up in a Christian home so I'm kind of new to all these things. It's okay, God can add those things to you. I used to tell my father-in-law, I want second generation type blessings. There's certain blessings that second generation Christians have, you know, from growing up in a Christian home and I used to tell him, I was like, I want those second generation blessings even though I'm a first generation Christian and you know how I can get those second generation blessings by being around second generation Christians and learning from their mistakes, learning from their successes. Well, you know, you got a bunch of Christians who have been successful at their marriage, let's go to Philippians 2 verse 12. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure, the Bible says. God is constantly molding us. Go to Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter number three. Now along with that, let me just say this, is that, you know, this molding process of making us from clay to a vessel, meat for the master's use, we're on the other side of eternity. We're just a constant work in progress. The Bible calls it sanctification, right? And what I'm saying is that you never arrive. And that's an important point because sometimes Christians can get to a point where they know so much Bible, they've been in church for so long, they want so many souls to Christ, they don't have anything else to learn. Well, wrong. Look what the Bible says in Philippians 3 verse 10. That I may know him, this is the apostle Paul speaking here, and the power of the Bible, the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I have, excuse me, not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count on myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. This is Paul speaking here. And if we were to assess Paul, we would say, well, that guy arrived for sure. I mean, as he's writing this, he's one of the best Christians in the New Testament. Knows his Bible, has done great exploits, but even his attitude is, I haven't attained yet. I haven't arrived yet. I have not yet apprehended yet. So he had the understanding that there's always more molding that I need. And look, folks, I've met Christians who feel like they've arrived. You know, worse than that, I've met pastors who felt like they've arrived, where they're just like, well, there's nothing more to learn about the King James Bible. I've read the Bible scores of times over and over again. There's nothing more to learn. Folks, the Bible's inexhaustible. There's always more to learn about the Bible. I've been reading the Bible because it's inexhaustible. But yet you have pastors who say, well, I've already preached all those sermons. I know all the stories. I know all the principles. So what happens? They start delving into other stuff. You know what happens to a lot of those pastors? God begins to remove knowledge from them because they stop growing. Folks, don't stop growing. Don't think you've arrived. Don't think you've arrived and you're sowing. Well, I've been sowing for X amount of years. I've been sowing for many years. I know all there is to know about sowing. Well, the moment you feel that way is the moment that you're going to start regressing in your sowing. Never want to feel like we've arrived in our sowing. I as a pastor have not arrived in my sowing. Now, I know how to win souls to Christ. I know what the Bible says about the gospel. I can teach people how to preach the gospel. I can get people saved. But you know what? I can always learn something new from another sowing. I would even go as far as to say this. I've been sowing for X amount of years. I guarantee if I go with them, I can learn something new. That's the kind of attitude we want to have that we can always learn something new. Folks, if I start preaching a sermon, never have this attitude. Well, we've already heard this before. Well, you didn't do it the first time so that's why I got to preach it again. Right? You know, we got to constantly be reiterating doctrines and constantly learning new things and when we read the Bible, we approach it and don't say, I already know this story. Here we go again with this story. There's so many layers to the Bible, folks. There are so many layers to the Bible. You'll never reach the bottom. It's so deep you will never reach the bottom this side of eternity. You constantly can grow and learn and so, you know, we will never become that perfect vessel this side of eternity. God's always going to constantly be molding us and the moment we come to the conclusion, oh, we've already reached all the souls that we can reach. We've grown as much as we can grow as a church. We've reached as many people as we can reach. You know, at that time, at that point, we begin to die spiritually. Not me, I'm just like, we're just getting started, baby. You think the bombing was bad. I'm going to shoot for something else. I'm going to try to get them to do worse. You're like, what? Hey, we've only one life to live. My greatest sermons are ahead of me, folks. My greatest days are ahead of me. A lot of pastors are like, they talk about the glory days. Oh, I remember back in my day. I don't have a back in my day. My greatest exploits are ahead of me. My best sermon is next Sunday. The greatest days of our church is next week. That's how we need to look at things. Constantly striving, pressing towards the mark, becoming better at what we do because we've only one life to live. Go to Jeremiah chapter 18. Jeremiah chapter 18. Here's my last point. Sometimes people come into the Christian life already broken. They come as a vessel already broken. You know, they've experienced, they've experienced trauma in their lives, people that have hurt them or been a bad influence on them and they're just broken. Let's just be honest. They didn't grow up in a Christian home and so they've experienced some pretty bad stuff where they're just kind of like a broken vessel. But here's the thing, God can always rebuild that which is broken and God can create something greater outside of that. You understand? So never think, well, you don't know me, I'm too far gone or I've experienced way too many bad things in my life and I can never be the husband that I need to be, I can never be the wife that I need to be, I can never be the Christian that I need to be because I have so much baggage. Then just leave the baggage and just start new. And just know that God can rebuild that and make something better. As long as you're breathing, if you're alive today, you're breathing and you have a Bible and you're in church, you're going down the right path. Because people can get this attitude where it's just like, well, why would I even try? I've had just too many bad habits, too many bad experiences, there's so much damage behind me and in my past. Not really, not really. I mean, think about Paul, it's pretty embarrassing that he was injurious persecuting the church of God. That's really embarrassing. I would be embarrassed to like, I would be embarrassed to be like, I would be embarrassed to be like, I would be embarrassed to like, hey, you arrested me. Weren't you the one who dragged me outside of my house? And then he's preaching the word of God. I mean, that's a humbling thing, right? But yet, then he ended up becoming like the greatest missionary of the New Testament. So you're only limited by your faith in God and what he can do in your life. Now that's not to say that you don't have to put any effort into it. Maybe you need to work a little harder than others. That's true. People who didn't grow up in a Christian home have to work a little harder. That's absolutely true. People who didn't grow up in a Christian home where they learn character and consistency and integrity, yeah, you're gonna have to work a little harder. But you know what advantage you have over those who did grow up in a Christian home? You actually have the potential to actually love the Lord more than those who grew up in a Christian home. That's actually biblical. They actually had the potential to love the Lord more because they've been forgiven much, the Bible says. And you know what the greatest commandment is? To love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength. Well, it looks like you're in a good position to fulfill that commandment better than others. So God can rebuild that which is broken. Absolutely. But let me say this, that he also has the right to discard the vessel if he discerns it's just too late for you. So on one end, we got the person who's broken, who comes to the Christian life broken, God can rebuild you and make you a beautiful vessel, meet for the master's use. But then there are others who just keep going down that path of destruction. Keep going down that path of disobedience and rebellion. And you know, Caitlin was saying that if the clay gets marred, you know, you can kind of rebuild it again. It'll take some work, right? It'll take some work to kind of rebuild it again. But she said there's actually so many times you can do it though. She says after a while, you can no longer utilize it anymore. You can't rebuild anymore. How many times that is? I don't know. But I know that that's a biblical principle. Where, you know, you get out of church, you have this consistent habitual habit of just getting out of God's will, getting involved in sin, and God has to rebuild your life. He has to rebuild it and fix you up and fix you and fix you and train you again. But after a while, the vessel becomes so marred that God just says, all right, I'm just going to take you home. And our God does kill. Where you can get to a point where just God says, you know what, this vessel is not useful anymore. I'm just going to take him home. And that happens. Don't let that happen. Look at Jeremiah 18, verse one, the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, arise, go down to the potter's house, and there will I cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter. So he made it again, another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter, saith the Lord? Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. We're all going to make mistakes and we're all going to become marred and fall apart sometimes. But the goal is to minimize that as much as possible. And to keep short accounts with God. That when you mess up, you just get right right away. Don't give yourself a window of time where you're just backslidden and not right with God. Get right with God as soon as you can. He said, well, how many lives do I get? How many chances do I get? I don't know. Yeah, I guess you can find out. I don't know why he's laughing. But you know what? I don't want to find out and you don't want to find out. It's better to just strive to be right, stay right with God. It's better to just be obedient to the hand of the potter to mold you to what he wants you to be. And just obey it, go through the fire, allow him to mold you and not rebel against him, not get out of church, not get out of the will of God. Just keep pressing forward and strive to be that vessel and to honor me for the master's use. And if you have a hard time doing that, well, just think about this. Think about the consequences of your actions if you don't, but also think about the blessings if you do. And the blessings far outweigh any pleasures that you can have out there that Satan offers or that your flesh says that you can have. The blessings far outweigh any offer that the world has to offer you. But I'm just saying, you know, I'm trying to instill the fear of God in you to let you know that there comes a time when the potter just says, you know what, let's just get some new clay. This is done. It's marred beyond recognition. There's nothing I can do with it. And that's what happened to Israel many times. That's literally what happened to Israel where God just kept trying to get their attention, kept trying to get their attention, get them right with God. And they were so marred that God said, this is marred. I'm just gonna get a new people. I'm just gonna replace them with some other clay. And that's exactly what he did. I've been murmuring about that for the last couple thousand years. Too late. You know, I don't wanna be replaced as a Christian or even replaced as a pastor. How about that? With another pastor to take my blessings because I'm disobedient or something like that. But you know what, in like manner, you can be replaced too. We understand that no man is irreplaceable, but you know what, the reality is this, is that if you get out of God's will, the will of God continues, life goes on. You don't want it to go on without you. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and thank you for the reminder that we're just clay. And we are but dust, we are but dirt. That's what we will return to when we die. But it's a beautiful picture because it reminds us that you can make us into something great. And your gentle hands, Lord, the Bible says that thy gentleness hath made me great. And that is definitely true when it comes to the potter and the clay. We need to recognize that, to be content with who we are and what you've given to us, where you've placed us, Lord, and to realize that we just need to keep pressing forward and not allow grievous sins into our life that can be destructive to us, to our family, to our church. And Lord, I pray that you'd help us to do so. Lord, we love you. We thank you. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Please hear your song books. It's song number 136. Song number 136, Master the Tempest is Raging. Song number 136 as our last song, all together nice and strong on that first verse. Master, the tempest is raging. The billows are tossing high. The sky is shining bright. The sky is your shadow with blackness. No shelter or help is nigh. Here is thou, God, that we perish. Our gifts shall lie asleep when each moment so badly is threatening our fate in the angry deep. The winds and the waves shall obey thy will. Peace be still where the wrath of the storm doth seem for demons or men or whatever it be. No water can swallow the ship where lies the master of ocean and earth and skies. They all shall sweetly obey thy will. Peace be still, peace be still where God shall sweetly obey her. Peace be still, peace be still Master, with anguish of spirit I bow in my grief today. The depths of my sad heart are troubled Awaken and save my prey. Torments of sin and of anguish sweep for my seeking soul. And I perish, I perish, dear Master always in a jade control. The winds and the waves shall obey thy will. Peace be still where the wrath of the storm doth seem for demons or men or whatever it be. No water can swallow the ship where lies the master of ocean and earth and skies. They all shall sweetly obey thy will. Peace be still, peace be still They all shall sweetly obey thy will. Peace, peace, peace still. Master, the terror is over who the elephants sweetly rest. Earth's sun in the conflict is nearer and heaven's within my grasp. In earth and heaven must be blessed. In your own class, you can leave her. Leave me alone no more. And with joy I shall make the best harbor and rest on the blissful shore. The winds and the waves shall obey thy will. Peace be still where the wrath of the storm doth seem for demons or men or whatever it be. No water can swallow the ship where lies the master of ocean and earth and skies. They all shall sweetly obey thy will. Peace be still, peace be still They all shall sweetly obey thy will. Peace, peace, peace still.