In the Potter's Hand

Hi, this is Pastor Daniel Bracken. You're listening to Kings Alaska Podcast. I hope the Word encourages you and you get a touch from God that brings transformation and equips you to experience life with people, power and purpose. Thank you for joining us. Enjoy the Word.

So if you would, go ahead and stand with me and we're going to get right into the Word. Tonight we are going to be reading out of Isaiah 64, verses 8 and 9. And then we're going to jump over to Jeremiah 18, verses 1 through 6.

So in Isaiah 64, 8 through 9, it says, and yet, O Lord, you are our Father, we are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hands. Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord. Do not, do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look on us we pray for we are all your people.

And let's jump over to Jeremiah 18, verses 1 through 6. This is the Word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord. Go down to the potter's house and there I will give you a message. So I went down to the potter's house and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hand.

So the potter formed it another, formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me and he said, can I not do with you, Israel, as the potter does, declares the Lord, like clay in the hand of a potter, so are you and my hand, Israel. Father, I thank you for this word that you have deposited in my heart. And I invite you tonight, Lord, that you would come and use me as your vessel. May your word go out and go out clearly.

May it touch every heart. May ears be open tonight to receive your word and that which you have prepared for your hearers. God, we will be sure to give you the glory and the praise through all that you do tonight in and through me and in and through your people, in Jesus name. Amen. And you can have a seat.

So one of the ministries that we do, me and my husband, is transformations. And maybe you've not been to transformations, maybe you've never heard of transformations. But in our ministry, along with a great team of people, we get the joy, the pleasure to watch God's work at hand up front, to watch people walk in a door one way and truly get transformed before our eyes. Some walk in, get saved, get discipled, and come to a place where they're even unrecognizable. Last night, as I was preaching and looking out at some of Those that were there at transformations and thinking back about when they first came to our ministry and to see them now, it's hard to even see the old person that they were when they first entered.

Some of those people today are part of our leadership team there.

And so tonight, this message that the Lord's given me is real, real to me.

My message tonight is titled in the Potter's Hand.

I've been with Kings now for about 13 years. And one thing that I enjoyed doing is being a part of the King's Kids summer camp. And back years ago, we would go out to Little Beaver and I would come and be part of that. And when I got married and then we had kids and then we got extra kids, we've got a blended, blended, blended family that left us with 11 children, amazing kids. And we are blessed beyond blessing that we transitioned into a place where me and my husband said, you know, we're going to give back to King's Kids because our kids are in King's Kids.

And so, you know, we made a commitment once a month we go back there and we serve. And I got selected to be part of our two and three year old classroom. And we used to have a corner in the classroom that was the Play DOH corner. And all the kids love the Play DOH corner. Like, they get to class and they're like, can we get the Play doh?

Where's the Play doh? We want to play with the Play doh. And they would love to sit at that table and pull out the Play DOH and create different things and make food or make cars. They made all kinds of things. And on some occasion you would have a person at the play dough table and they're just, you know, into their creating and having a great time.

And then would come Johnny, let's say day. And Johnny really wants to play with the color green. But Levi's playing with green. But Johnny wants green. And so Johnny, because he can't have green, well, then Levi shouldn't have green.

We know how little kids are. They just, they want what they want. So he smushes Levi's creation because Levi won't give him the green Play doh. And Levi teacher Sammy messed up my creation because he wants the green Play Dohs. Johnny, we don't do that.

Here's a different color. And Levi goes right back into it. He takes what's been mushed and destroyed, he puts it back into a ball and begins to create again. But along comes Sam, and Sam wants the tool that Levi is using to shape his play doh. Into what he wants to create.

And Levi doesn't want to give it to him. So what does Sam do?

He destroys Levi's creation. And again Levi, teacher Sam messed up my creation. Sam, we don't do that. And what does Levi do? Takes that green play doh, that tool he was using, and he starts over again.

And he might change what he was originally going to create.

The same is true when it comes to our lives.

If you go back in the beginning of the Bible, in Genesis 1, we know that God said that he would create us in his own image, creating man and woman. Isaiah 1:27 28. So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God. He created them. Male and female.

He created them. God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number. You see, God had an original masterpiece when he created you and me. Each person he created, each person he knit together with his own very hands. Psalm 139:1 Excuse me.

Psalm 139:13 says, for you created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb. Womb.

So here's God's creation, God's beautiful masterpiece. But along comes Johnny or Sam, better yet, Satan, who wants to destroy the creation that God has made.

And when you move forward in the book of Genesis, in Genesis 3, we see that here comes Satan. He tempts the woman. She sees the tree. He lies. He tells her, you know nothing will happen, you certainly will not die.

The serpent says this, for God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her. And he ate it. Sin had been committed from the beginning.

Satan's motive has always been to destroy the creation that God created. The same as those kids in that two and three year old room, because they could not have. Well then I'll destroy. That was Satan's game plan. John 10:10.

What does he come to do?

Steal, kill and destroy the creation of God.

But he's not just a thief. He's not just one that's going to come and steal. He'll even come in the form of a tempter. So then the blame is on you. I didn't destroy anything.

I tempted them and they chose.

Look at Jesus. In Matthew 4, 3 it says, the tempter Satan came to him, Jesus, and said, if you are the Son of God, tell the stones to become bread.

So we see here in Genesis that God created. Satan came to destroy that which God created.

So let's move back to our main text of Scripture in Isaiah and Jeremiah, where we see that Israel has obviously sinned.

Israel has obviously made some unwise choices.

Both Isaiah and Jeremiah address the sin of Israel that brought their destruction.

You see, Israel, the people of God, the ones he created, has sinned.

Isaiah 64, 6, it says, all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags, we all shriveled up like leaves. See, Israel was in a complete mess. The things that they had done and the things that they had not done has caused them to be at a place and at a position where they're no longer thriving, they no longer represent God's glory. They no longer are at a place of high, but at a place of low, at a place of near ruins.

They're withered, they're lifeless, they're holding on by a thread.

How many can say there's been times in your life that you've made decisions, you've done things that you found yourself holding on by a thread, In shambles, in messes that you had no idea how you were going to get yourself out of it?

We see a similar situation as Israel when we flip into the New testament. Even Minister Dr. David was talking about the Old in the New Testament. And when we look in the New Testament, we see a storyline that is similar to where Israel is at in Isaiah 64. If you go to the New Testament, in Luke 15, we see the story of the prodigal son. And in Luke 15, here's a young man, I believe their family was well off, they were comfortable.

There was no struggle, there was no strain. But here's a young man, out of his own greed, out of his own selfish pride, goes before his father and asks for his inheritance.

His motive from the beginning was not good because his father was still living, yet he wanted his inheritance now.

And when you read Luke 15, you see in Luke 15, where the son gets the inheritance, he gets his way, not the father's way, his way. He goes to town, he squanders every bit of that money on reckless living.

And he goes from riches to rags instead of rags to riches, he's working backwards. You see, what starts as pleasurable, what starts as satisfying, only becomes a place of misery when we get to a place, when we're in A mess.

But when you read through Isaiah 64, we see a shift, and we see a change with Israel. We see that Israel does repent.

Israel's repentance and requests to God.

In verse nine, it says, do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look on us. We pray for we are all your people.

Israel had a shift when you get to verse nine. A place where they are sorrowful. A place where they are realizing we have made a mistake.

You see, when we began to walk away from what we were created to do, who we were created to be, when we begin to sin or we get tempted to go away from the things of God, the enemy has a good way of causing blindness and disillusions that we don't recognize, that we've made a mess of things that we don't recognize we're not where we're supposed to be.

Israel was marred. Israel was blemished.

But they extended a heart of repentance before the Lord.

They took a stance of being low before the Lord.

Though they knew they deserved wrath, they asked for forgiveness. Though they knew that what they had done was wrong, they asked for forgiveness.

They humbled themselves and they acknowledged their wrong.

You see, when we realize that we've done wrong, we realize that we're separated from God. He doesn't ask us to jump through a bunch of hoops. He doesn't ask us to go take a test. And you must score on this test, a percentage grade, in order to be forgiven.

The Bible says that if we humble ourselves and we turn from our wicked ways, it's a place of humbling. It's a place of surrender. It's a place of safety.

It's a place where we can ask and he will hear.

So what do you do when you're at that place and you realize, I've made a mess of things.

I've made choices and I've made decisions that have put me in a place and in a position that I'm not proud of.

I've allowed things that I'm not proud of.

What do I do? How do I make things right?

It's in the potter's hand. No matter what the mess looks like, no matter what the situation is, you put it in the potter's hand.

What God, the potter, does in his hands, what the potter does when we put ourselves in his hands. What did he do with Israel when they allowed themselves to be put in his hands?

When we look at Jeremiah, God speaks as Jeremiah watches.

He watches the potter as the clay is put into his hands.

And we See just what God will do in his hands. He is sovereign and has all authority. Ephesians 1:11 in him we are chosen, having been predestined, according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. The potter has absolute power over the clay. He has the power to reshape us.

He has the power to create and, and recreate, to shape and reshape, to purpose and repurpose and establish value.

When I came to the Lord, I felt like I had worth of about this much, that I had made such a mess of my life. There was no value to me. I was unworthy, I was unclean, I was unrighteous, too much to even come to a holy God.

But God, out of his mercy and his grace, he was willing to reshape the destructive life that I had made of myself. He was willing because he had all the power, greater than that of what I or Satan had, to reshape me and re establish me. That same sovereignty and power is available for each and every one of you.

In the hands of the potter. His work is of patience and restoration.

First Peter 5:10 and after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

Just as a potter will work out all of the lumps, a potter will work out all of the imperfections. God in his patience will patiently work out those lumps, will patiently restore, will patiently work and bend and produce the man or woman of God that He knows you're capable of being.

Sometimes when you're working with somebody and you. You're ministering to them or you're counseling them and you're working and you're. You're giving them advice and you're telling them things that will help them and heal them, and they choose to not listen. Or, or they're kind of stubborn and human natural abilities. Sometimes people grow tired, they grow weary, and they're like, you know what?

I'm done. You're. It's just too hard. This is too hard of a case. But God is patient.

He patiently works those lumps and blemishes out. We often say, you know, we're like onions, layers of hurt, layers of sin, layers of messes that God works out, but he's patient enough to do it because he knows that he can restore it all back to its original beauty when he created you in the womb.

We know in his hands his work is an intentional design. Isaiah 43:7. Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made. He handcrafts each of his creations as work of art for his glory, for his specific purpose. You have purpose.

You have purpose. Every piece of a puzzle is shaped different.

Every piece of a puzzle serves a purpose.

And if you miss a piece in the puzzle, even though all the other pieces are put there, the puzzle is incomplete. You have a purpose.

But are you willing to go through the process?

Are you willing to not just get in the hand of the potter, but are you willing to go through the process?

You see, when a potter takes a piece of clay, he doesn't just put it in his hand and say, okay, you are now this. And it happens. It has to go through a process. And that process begins by getting on the wheel and he begins to work the clay. The process of a piece of clay on a wheel starts with wedging.

Wedging is the softening of the clay. You see, you need a soft heart to become remoldable.

Ezekiel 36:26 27 says, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. He needs a softened heart to be able to make it remoldable.

I remember sometimes back there in that two and three year old room, and we take out a canister of clay and give it to one of the kids, and it'd be hard as a rock. They can't mold anything, they can't form anything. So see, we have to have a softened heart. That's what becomes pliable for God to reshape. Secondly is the shaping process, the opening and pulling up of the clay on the wheel so that he can create.

2nd Corinthians 5:17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come and the old has gone, the new is here.

And after he's mold and shaped, there may be things he needs to trim. And so we've got to go through the trimming process, removing and purging things that need to be removed, things that aren't going to come with us in this new life, in this new identity. Those things of the past have to stay in the past.

And lastly, he takes us off that wheel and he puts us in that firing pit, a place of being refined by the fire to create durability and shine. Colossians 1:11. Be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, so that you may have Great endurance and patience as Minister Toby makes it back up here to these keys.

You know, when you buy pottery, you can buy the pottery, and sometimes pottery will have potential blemish. Sometimes that pottery may have just a small hairline crack. And if you don't see it, you think it's okay. I can ignore that. It'll be fine.

But what often happens with a hairline crack that that crack can then eventually grow to the place or put a fragileness on that pottery that by the simplest little thing, the whole thing shatters.

Tonight, I want to ask two different groups of people.

Maybe tonight you're here and, you know, you've been living for God.

You know the Lord, You've gone through that process.

But maybe there's that little blemish, Maybe there's that little crack that maybe most people can't see it, but you know it's there.

Sometimes there's that little hidden sin that we have told no one.

But that little hidden sin makes you potentially a clay pot that can come to ruins.

And God would want to take you now before you get to that place and say, let me fix that blemish. Let me patch up that little crack so that you're able to be strong and resilient and durable. And I may have to put you back in the fire one more time, but you'll be able to endure.

Maybe tonight you're at a place where your life is a complete mess.

And like Israel, maybe like the prodigal son, you're realizing, wow, I've really messed things up.

I really feel like my life's not much worth of anything because of things I've done, things I've chose, things I looked past when I knew I should have addressed them.

Can I tell you, no matter where you are tonight, you have opportunity to get in the hands of the potter. You have opportunity tonight to be a new creation, to be a man or woman of great worth and great value.

Because there is purpose.

There is great purpose to your life.

Before I do the altar call, I want to read Romans 9, 21, 24.

Paul is one of my favorite people in the Bible, because before he became Paul, he was a man who was being a hot mess.

He was at a place where some may say he's unfixable, unchangeable, unvaluable. Yet God saw what he purposed underneath all the destructive things that Saul was doing.

And I like Romans 9, 21, 24 because it sums up what's available to us today in the hands of the potter.

When a Potter makes jars of clay. Doesn't he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another jar and another to throw garbage into? In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those in whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction.

He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shall shows mercy. Who were prepared in advance for his glory.

Who was prepared in advance for his glory.

When you are knit together in your mother's womb. In advance. He was preparing you for his glory. He was preparing you for your purpose. He was preparing you for his perfect will.

So even though you may mess up, even though you may be blemished, he prepared in advance you for his glory.

And we among those whom he selected, both Jew and from Gentiles.

Tonight, Are you willing to get in the potter's hands?

Are you willing to come to a place of humility? Come to a place where God. Here I am. I've made mistakes. I've made a mess of things.

Whether it's a crack, a lump, or I am in shattered pieces because of all the mess I have made of my life. But I'm willing to get in your hands. I'm willing to meet with you tonight. I'm willing to admit my wrong so that my mess may become your masterpiece.

There is masterpieces sitting out here tonight. There is value sitting out here tonight. There is royalty and a holy nation sitting out here tonight.

I want you to bow your heads tonight and close your eyes.

Examine your life tonight.

Do you need to get in the hand of the potter tonight? Do you need to get on that wheel?

If that's you tonight, I'm just going to ask you to slip up your hand. Whether it's a first time, whether it's a recommitment, whether it's, you know, I've got. I've got something lumps. I've got some things that I need worked out of me so that I can be the masterpiece. I can fulfill the purpose that's upon my life.

If that's you tonight, I'm gonna ask you just to slip up a hand. It's not for me, it's not for anybody else, but for the Lord. Thank you for that hand. Thank you for that hand. Thank you for that hand.

God is good and God is faithful. He's a gentleman. He'll be gentle with you.

Everybody stand up. We're going to recite a prayer. And whether you Raised your hand or you didn't. I'm going to encourage you tonight to get in the hand of the potter. I will never regret taking that step.

And don't let it just be tonight. There may be times that you need to get back on that wheel throughout your walk. And guess what? He's always got a handout willing.

So just repeat after me this. Tonight, Father, I come before you and I ask you tonight in a position of humility to forgive me of all of my sins. I believe that you sent your son to die on a cross for me and that on the third day he rose again.

And tonight I receive you as my Lord and as my savior. Tonight I place my life in the potter's hand.

Make me reshape me that I may be the masterpiece to glorify your name and to walk out my God given purpose in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Lord.

I just want to pray a prayer over you and Pastor Tim's got to come up and close this out. I've gone over. I do apologize for that, but I want to pray just a general prayer over you tonight that I felt the Lord put in my spirit to pray. So if you just raise your hands to the Lord. Father, I thank you for those that are in this room, those that are maybe viewing online.

I thank you that God, you're a God, that's a gentleman.

And Lord, there are some out here that have felt I am invisible and worth nothing. And Lord, I pray tonight that as people have come before you humbled, willing to get into your hands, that Lord, even in this season as a church God, that as we are growing and striving to hit the state of Alaska with the good news, may you, Lord, release not just purpose, but God Tonight there are some that you are releasing even a burden that will step out in a place of leadership, that will step out in a place, God, where life groups that they know, that they know they're supposed to be a part of, tonight will be a night that they'll step out and walk out their purpose. Tonight's gonna be a night that people that were called to be a part of a team, that they're gonna step out and fulfill the purpose of their life. That God, our vision of 100 teams and 300 life groups isn't just a number, but tonight the potter is creating and fashioning and knitting together and releasing a company of leaders, a company of people who are unashamed of God. In Jesus name, amen.

Well, I hope you were encouraged by God Word. Thank you again for listening to Kings Alaska Podcast. God bless you. For more great content, go to kcalaska.com and may God's face shine upon you and give you peace.