Sunday Sermon Summary – Sept 07 2025

Empty to Abundance

Jeremiah 18: 1-10, Luke 14: 25-33
This passage is about the Lord asking prophet Jeremiah to go to the potter’s house to watch him.

1. Reflect
Jeremiah 18:2
Jeremiah obeyed God’s command and went to the potter’s house. He saw the potter making pots of clay. God had told him that He will speak to him at the potter’s house.  The Lord can speak to us any time; but He has His unique way of speaking to His people.  He desires obedience from us. He may tell us to go to a particular place to hear Him speak. Our Lord speaks to His people only on His terms. If we want to hear His voice we must first follow His words.  Jeremiah was asked to look at the potter to hear God’s voice.

2. Resolve
Jeremiah 18:4-6
The pot the potter was trying to make was spoiled in His hands. The potter did not throw away the lump of clay.  He made it a lump again and moulded it into another shape as it pleased him. We may displease God as we do so often. God does not discard us. He makes something different out of us. God would have planned something for each of us but when we failed to accomplish God’s purpose, He began to fashion us into another dimension that seemed good to Him. We have a loving, caring God. He has promised that we are more precious than anything else of His creation.  To be blessed with His abundance, God invites us to be willing to comply with His purpose for us. The Lord asked Jeremiah, “Can’t I do the same thing as the potter did for my people?”

3. Rejoice
Jeremiah 18:7, 8
The Lord declared to Jeremiah that when He decides to destroy a nation or a people for their sin; if that nation repents and turns to Him; He will also turn from destroying them.  Our God is a loving and tender-hearted God.  It does not please Him to punish us for our sins.  When the people of Nineveh repented of their sins God took pity on them and changed His decision to destroy them. He accepted their repentance and blessed them. Jonah was unhappy about it; but God was pleased to forgive them.  Our Lord gives us beauty for ashes. He changes His anger to our disobedience and chooses to bless us.  It will be a blessing to reflect on the hymn that we sang just before the sermon, “Have thine own way Lord, have thine own way. Thou art the potter I am the clay.  Mould me and make me after Thy will as I am waiting yielded and still”.  Amen