Sunday, May 23, 2021

Sunday Sermon Outline: The Parable of the Potter

“The Parable of the Potter”
Jeremiah 18:1-17
 
Introduction:
    Genesis 1:26, “Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness …”
    “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life” (1 John 2:16).
    “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3).
    “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). 
    2 Corinthians 11:2-3, “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Him. 3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”


I. The Crafting of Clay vs. 1-6
    “This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you My message." 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.”

    Genesis 1:27, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
    “sin’s deceitfulness” (Hebrews 3:13)
    “the cravings of our sinful nature” (Ephesians 2:3). 
    “Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him” (Isaiah 1:4).
    Jeremiah 31:31-33, “"The time is coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke My covenant, though I was a husband to them, … 33 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people."” 
    “No one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins” (Mark 2:22). 
    “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). 
 
II. The Correction of Conduct vs. 7-10
    “7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in My sight and does not obey Me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.”

 
III. The Chastising of Callousness vs. 11-17
    “11 Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, 'This is what the LORD says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.' 12 But they will reply, 'It's no use. We will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.'" 13 Therefore this is what the LORD says: "Inquire among the nations: Who has ever heard anything like this? A most horrible thing has been done by Virgin Israel. 14 Does the snow of Lebanon ever vanish from its rocky slopes? Do its cool waters from distant sources ever cease to flow? 15 Yet My people have forgotten Me; they burn incense to worthless idols, which made them stumble in their ways and in the ancient paths. They made them walk in bypaths and on roads not built up. 16 Their land will be laid waste, an object of lasting scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will shake their heads. 17 Like a wind from the east, I will scatter them before their enemies; I will show them My back and not My face in the day of their disaster."”

    “This people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them” (Matthew 13:15).
 
 
Conclusion:
    “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” (Acts 3:19).
    “[Take] off your old self with its practices 10 and … put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3:9-10).
    “For we are God's [the Potter’s] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). 
    “If a man cleanses himself from [sinful] things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work” (2 Timothy 2:21).
 
 

Sunday, May 16, 2021

Sunday Sermon Outline: A Place Called Wits' End

“A Place Called Wits’ End” 
Psalm 107:23-27
 
Introduction: 
    Psalm 107:23-27, “They went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters. 24 They saw the works of the LORD, His wonderful deeds in the deep. 25 For He spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves. 26 They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths; in their peril their courage melted away. 27 They reeled and staggered like drunken men; they were at their wits' end.”
 
I. “Lord, I’m at my wit’s end!”
     
    “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). 
    1 Peter 4:12, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.”
    Psalm 107:28-31, “Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress. 29 He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. 30 They were glad when it grew calm, and He guided them to their desired haven. 31 Let them give thanks to the LORD for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for men.”
    Deuteronomy 1:31-32, “… in the desert … you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place. 32 In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God.” 
    Psalm 37:23-24, “If the LORD delights in a man's way, He makes his steps firm; 24 though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with His hand.” 
 
II. “Lord, send me a miracle!”
    Psalm 106:7, “When our fathers were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea.” 
    “Is the Lord among us or not?” (Exodus 17:7). 
    Deuteronomy 2:7, “These forty years the LORD your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.”
     “Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. 5 All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering” (2 Thessalonians 1:4-5).
 
III. “Lord, what will happen to me now?”
    “This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. 6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. 7 But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him. 8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit"” (Jeremiah 17:5-8).
 
Conclusion:
    Psalm 107:28-31, “Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress. 29 He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. 30 They were glad when it grew calm, and He guided them to their desired haven. 31 Let them give thanks to the LORD for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for men.”