STEEMCHURCH: IN THE HANDS OF THE POTTERY

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I want to start with a reflection: Do not ever say that you do not serve, for God all serve (although not all for the same). If God could use a simple rooster to retrieve a missionary like Peter, he can also use you.

Simply follow the 7 rules of the rooster:

1- The rooster gets up early and immediately undertakes his task (which God has entrusted to him).

2- The rooster does not refuse to sing because there are nightingales. He does what he can, the best he knows.

3- The rooster keeps on singing even if nobody encourages him or thanks him. Actually, he does not expect anyone to do it.

4- The rooster awakens those who sleep. Your task is unpopular, but necessary.

5- The rooster proclaims good news: It's just dawn. Before you, you have to start a new day, full of magnificent opportunities.

6- The rooster is faithful to his task. You can count on him. It never fails He is an excellent sentinel.

7- The rooster never complains about always having to do the same thing, about no one congratulating him or nobody cares.

And whatever you do, do it with your heart, as for the Lord and not for men. (Colossians 3:23)

A USEFUL VESSEL.

(Jeremiah 18: 1-6) The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah, saying:

Get up and go to the potter's house, and there I will make you hear my words.

And I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he was working on the wheel.

And the clay pot that he made was spoiled in his hand; and he returned and made another vessel, as he thought it best to do.

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, "Can not I make you like this potter, O house of Israel? says the LORD. Behold, as the clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. The parables of these chapters, perhaps written during the first years of Jehoiakim's reign, illustrate God's sovereignty over the nation.

God has power over clay (Judah) and He continues to work to make it a useful vessel. However, Judah must repent soon or the clay would harden in the wrong way. Then it would lack value and break it and destroy it. As the potter molded or shaped the clay vessel in his wheel, defects often appeared. The potter had power over the clay, to leave the defects or to reshape the vessel. Likewise, God had the power to re-shape the nation and conform it according to his purposes.

Our strategy should not be to become unconscious or passive (an aspect of mud), but willing and responsive to God's impact on us. To the extent that we allow it, God returns to give us form to be valuable vessels.

The potter's vessel, once hardened, can not be reassembled if it breaks. As the vessel breaks, so will you and I be broken for sins. No human hand can repair us, but if we return to the Lord, He will heal us.

We have to pray to God, that by His grace, free us from hardness of heart, and from contempt for His word and His commandments, to be valuable vessels we have to obey God as an example we have Noah: (Genesis 6:22) And so did Noah; He did according to all that God commanded him. Noah set to work as soon as God told him to build the ark. The other people were notified of the impending disaster but apparently did not expect it to happen. (1Peter_3: 20) those who once disobeyed, when once the patience of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which few people, that is eight, were saved by water.

Things have not changed much. Every day hundreds of people are warned of the inevitable judgment of God, and still most do not believe that this can happen. Do not expect people to accept the message that the Lord will come to punish sin.

Those who do not believe in God will say that it is impossible, and they will try to deny you God. But remember that God promised Noah to protect him. This can encourage us to trust that God will deliver us from the judgment that will certainly come.

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As clay we are, we would have to let God mold us instead of claiming God because he does things in our life according to Him, it seems better.

(Genesis 2: 7) Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man was a living being.

"From the dust of the earth" implies that there is nothing special in the chemical elements that make up our bodies. The body is an inanimate shell until God gives it life with its "breath of life". When God withdraws his breath from life, our bodies return once again to dust.

Therefore, the life and value of man come from the Spirit of God. Many boast of their achievements and abilities, as if they are the ones who originate their own forces, others feel useless because their abilities do not stand out. In fact, our value comes not from our achievements, but from the God of the universe who chooses to give us the mysterious and miraculous gift of life.

He values ​​your life, do the same. Remember that being bought with the blood of Jesus is valuable, first to be done by God, second the blood with which your life was purchased is the same blessed blood of God, which is worth more than everything that exists, understand this .

When we are rebellious and we do not allow God to mold us we get harmed incorrectly and we have to be broken by God, he wants to deal with us imperfections if we leave him.

Look what it says in (Romans 9:20) But before, oh man, who are you, so that you may alter with God? Will the earthen vessel say to the one who formed it: Why have you made me like this? Or does not the potter have power over clay, to make of the same lump a vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

And what, if God, wanting to show his wrath and make his power known, endured with much patience the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and to make known the riches of his glory, he showed them to the vessels of mercy that he prepared in advance for glory, whom he has also called, that is, to us, not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles?

As also in Hosea he says: I will call my people who were not my people, And the unloved, beloved.
And in the place where they were told: You are not my people, there you will be called sons of the living God.

With this illustration, Paul does not say that some of us are more valuable than others, but simply that the Creator controls everything created. The created object, however, does not have the right to demand anything from its Creator; His existence depends on Him. By taking this perspective into account, any temptation to take pride in personal achievements is eliminated.

Seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus, Hosea spoke of God's intention to restore his people. Paul applied Hosea's message to God's purpose that the Gentiles be part of his family, after the Jews rejected his plan. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we are adopted as children of God: (John 1:12) But to all who received him, to those who believe in his name, he gave them the right to become children of God.
All those who accept Christ as Lord of their lives are spiritually reborn and receive new life from God. Through faith in Christ, this new birth changes us from within, reconditioning our attitudes, desires and motives. Birth makes one physically alive and allows one to be part of the spiritual family of God. When we are born of God, we are part of his family. Have you asked for Christ to make you a new person? This new beginning is available to all who believe in Christ, and we need our minds to be renewed also, (Romans 12: 2) Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your understanding, so that you may prove what is the good will of God, pleasant and perfect.

God has good, nice and perfect plans for his children. He wants to transform us into a people with a renewed mind, alive to honor and obey Him. Because He only wants the best for us and because we have given His Son so that we may have new life, we should offer ourselves with joy in living sacrifice for His service.

Christians have this call: "Be not conformed to this world." We do not have to be satisfied with the behavior and customs of this world, which are usually egocentric and often corrupt.

Many Christians wisely say that worldly behavior goes too far. Our refusal to be part of the world, however, must go beyond the level of behavior and customs.

It must be firmly rooted in our minds: "Transform through the renewal of your understanding." It is possible to avoid many of the mundane customs while remaining proud, greedy, selfish, obstinate and arrogant.

Only when the Holy Spirit renews, reeducates and redirects our minds are we truly transformed.