SERMONS ON THE POTTER AND THE CLAY
Our sermon ideas on the potter and the clay will help you preach a powerful message. Prepare your messages on the potter and the clay with sermon outlines or an entire sermon series.
The Potter and the Clay
by Tony Nester
Jeremiah is famous for his words of judgment and doom against the people of Judah. Here's is a sample of his prophecy. (Jeremiah 6:16-26 NRSV) God was giving Jeremiah a vision of the coming destruction of Jerusalem. It was a painful vision to bear. Jeremiah would look at the City of Jerusalem and see its future: the crops burned and people going hungry, men, women and children being slaughtered by the sword of an invading army, the destruction of the city, the forced march into exile. Jeremiah cried out in sorrow and grief for this people: (Jeremiah 9:1 NRSV) God gave Jeremiah some relief. There are places...
The Potter and the Clay
by Daniel Rodgers
ILLUS: When I was in high school, I took a two- semester course on pottery making. I learned how to prepare the clay, place it on the wheel and turn it into a vase, a plate, a bowel or a cup. You begin by cutting the clay on a piano wire, removing all the air bubbles. Clay that still has air bubbles will explode when placed in the kiln. It's rather amazing what you can do with a simple piece of clay, as you shape it with your fingers and your hands, turning it into something beautiful and useful. I made a vase that was so impressive to my instructor; he asked me if he could have it. I gave it to him, but now I regret that I didn't keep it. I don't have...
The Clay in the Potter's Hands
by David Davis
The best of men sometimes become discouraged. In the text we look in on one of the prophets of old -- Jeremiah. He has been call the ''weeping prophet'' simply because his heart broke as he looked upon the sins of Israel to repentance. He did the best he could, night and day, pleading for Israel to give up her sin and return to God. But it seemed that all his efforts were in vain -- for the people went on in their sin -- forgetting God. God wanted to teach Jeremiah a lesson so He sent him down to the potter's house. Jeremiah went in and watched the potter at his work. That artist took a lump of clay in his hands, then placed it upon the...
Jars of Clay (6 of 6)
by Stephen Whitney
It has been said that the Roman Empire ran on olive oil. It was used for bathing, ceremonies, cooking, cosmetics, lamps and as medicine. For decades, olive oil from southern Spain was shipped to Rome in large clay jugs called amphorae. Those jugs, not worth sending back, were discarded in a growing heap of broken shards known as Monte Testaccio. The fragments of an estimated 25 million amphorae created that man-made hill, which stands today on the bank of the Tiber River in Rome. In the ancient world, the value of those pots was not their beauty, but their contents. What was inside the jars made them valuable....
Lessons from a Piece of Clay
by Donald Cantrell
The bible offers us much insight concerning a potter and his clay. The bible literally opens up with God speaking the world into existence, but he then does something so strange and so unique; he places his own personal touch upon mankind. He spoke and the stars appeared, he spoke and the oceans were set...
In the Potter's Hands (38 of 52)
by Christopher Harbin
We like to be in charge of our lives. We even have a national mythos telling us we can do and become whatever we set our minds and ambitions to accomplish or be. We tell ourselves and our children anyone can grow up to be president, knowing full well that less than 25 people will become president over a lifetime. We tell ourselves anyone can work hard, pull themselves up by their bootstraps and become a millionaire. It is more complicated than that, but we repeat the mantra, anyway. Decades ago, my mother had me memorize ''Invictus,'' a poem by William Henley which closes with, ''I am the master of my fate, / I am the captain...
Down to the Potter's House (5 of 10)
by Jerry Vines
The Lord called Jeremiah to be a prophet to the nations. He is specifically called to be a prophet to the people of God, the people of Judah. He exercises ministry for a period of 40 years. God used every conceivable method to get His message through the prophet Jeremiah to the people. Judgment was on the way. God was trying to warn the people and call the people to repentance. But they refused. Sometimes the message comes to Jeremiah in direct tones. At other times God says to Jeremiah, ''Act out the sermon.'' On this occasion the Lord is going to communicate His message to Jeremiah by means of an illustration. He's going to...
Jeremiah: In the Potter's Hands (5 of 20)
by Roger Thomas
Introduction: What if a present-day preacher stood in his pulpit and announced that God was on the side of Saddam Hussein or Ossama Ben Laden? That God was against America and that he was raising up worldwide terrorists to serve his purposes and be his servants? That God cared nothing for the Declaration of Independence or the American Constitution or the long heritage of religious worship that our nation has had? In fact, that the things we emphasize were an offense to God? And what if this preacher even advocated that Christians renounce their loyalty to their country and join the other side? And what if the preacher...
The Potter's Hunt Through Which He Found Me (2 of 5)
by Wayne Hinson
Intro: In the last message, we saw a portrait of the Potter's heart. How he saw the clay long before he ever sought the clay. We looked at his acclaim and his attributes, but this message will attempt to expound his actions. The Potter's heart is what he desires, but his hunt is what he does. Before there can ever be clay in the potter's hands, there must be clay in the potter's heart and hunt. The "seeker friendly" movement has chosen to overlook this in their vain religious agnosticism. Religion wants to reverse the order by teaching that one can come to God and seek God at any time. Jesus was quoted as saying that no man could...
The Potters House
by Donald Cantrell
There was a couple who used to go to England to shop in the beautiful stores. They both liked antiques and pottery, especially teacups.This was their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. They were in this one shop when they saw a beautiful teacup. They said, ''We've never seen one quite so beautiful.'' As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke. ''You don't understand,'' it said. ''I haven't always been a teacup. There was a time when I was just red clay. My master took me and rolled me and patted me over and over and I yelled out, 'Let me alone,' but he only smiled and said, 'Not yet.'''''Then I was placed on a spinning...
The Blessing of Brokenness (4 of 4)
by Stan Coffey
This morning I invite your attention to Jeremiah 18:1. Today we are going to talk about ''The Blessing of Brokenness''. Men throw away broken things but God only uses things that are broken. You can go to a junk yard or to an antique store and see things that became old or useless to the owners and cast aside. So, man many times casts things aside when they become useless or broken. But God uses broken things. There is a blessing if you are broken this morning. Some may be broken physically today. Your health is broken. Every Sunday I know that there are many of us who can say we are broken in our health. There are others...
He Doesn't Throw the Clay Away
by Robert Walker
I guess the number one thing that characterizes the people of Jeremiah's day is they made light of spiritual things. The sin of the people of Jeremiah day was a habitual lifestyle that was both offensive and grievous to God. They were saturated with iniquity and lived in idolatry. They needed forgiveness and cleansing. Jeremiah tried to encourage them by telling them that their sins could be cleansed. He reproved them, He rebuked them, and He was tenderhearted toward them. He wept tears because of their sinful condition. Darkness and despair lay hold of him. The picture was dark but then God told him to go too the potter's house...
Jeremiah...Who Found Sermons in Unusual Places
by Ivor Powell
Dr. Frank Boreham, whom I met in Australia, was a remarkable author and a great friend, but above all else, he was a seer-a visionary-able to find a sermon anywhere. Michelangelo looked at a discarded block of marble and saw imprisoned within it an angel. Dr. Boreham could look at a tree, see a telephone post, and then discourse on the miracle of communication. On the summit of Mount Hobart in Tasmania he talked to a small spring bubbling out of the ground. "Little Spring, from whence have you come?" "Ah," came the reply, "I have arisen from the deep, deep mountain." "And where are you going?" "Sir, I am on my way...
The Potter
by Bob Wickizer
Let's start this morning's lesson with a quick Bible and earth science quiz. The adults out there can help in case you get stumped. First question – In the book of Genesis when God made the first human being named Adam, what was the material God used to make Adam? {clay – show the jar of dry clay} Next question – What is the material we use to make pottery? {clay – show a jar of clay soil mixed with water} Very good. How many of you have seen a person with a potter's wheel making a round piece of pottery? Today potters use an electric motor to turn the wheel but at the time of the prophet Jeremiah, potters used a wheel turned by the...
The Potter's Hands by Which He Wrought Me (4 of 5)
by Wayne Hinson
Intro: Thus far, we have examined the potter's heart, the potter's hunt and the potter's house. Now we will examine the subject of the potter's hands. This is where the forming of the clay takes place. Everything up to this point has been performed in order to prepare the clay for the forming process. This is the hands on ministry of the potter. All the clay can do is submit. In Romans 12:1, we read this statement, "I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is you reasonable service". Now God is not a God of "let's make a deal", offering...
