වන්වවවක්න වවන්වවවක්නිලටයේයේිය කතුවරයිමක්වවවවවවක්නුවවවකයේයේයික්නවවවක්නවවටයේයේ්නවවවවක්නවවවකයේ්නවක්නවවවක්නවහදු වහාපණ
We want to welcome you to Disciples Net today, wherever today is, and whenever today is for you, you are always welcome to join us for worship.
We are looking forward to a great sermon from Anita Kham, one of our ministers, and we are looking forward to some great music.
Again, we're glad you're here. Thank you so much for joining us.
Why am I waiting in this field?
I'm going away, oh, I'm going away. Searching, trying, save me.
Wash me, yes, now, oh, wash me, yes, now.
Wash me, yes, now, oh, wash me, yes, now.
After all the hours, sharing is time.
Wash me, and heal me, save me from harm.
I'm going away, oh, I'm going away. All of my need has been swayed.
Still in my spirit, till all shall see, Christ will be always living in me.
A reading from the prophet Jeremiah from chapter 18 verses 1 through 6. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord.
Come, go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words.
So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand.
And he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.
Then the sound of the Lord came to me. Can I not do with you, oh house of Israel, just as this potter has done?
Says the Lord, just like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, oh house of Israel.
Let us go to the Lord in prayer.
Gracious God, we thank you. We thank you. We thank you so much that you are there and you listen to us as we come to you now with what's on our hearts and minds.
Lord, life is hard. Life is especially hard for some of us that are listening, Lord.
We feel like sometimes it's just shattered beyond repair. And then we come to you.
We thank you, Lord, that you hear. We thank you, Lord, that we can gather to you and you collect those broken pieces and help make us into something that is whole and something that's useful for your purpose.
Thank you for giving us the hope to keep on living.
Thank you for allowing us to be there, to be strong when it's someone else that has a shattered life.
Thank you for the privilege of being able to pray for someone that may be across the world whom we've never met, but that we can speak to you about on their behalf.
Thank you for the privilege and the power of prayer.
Lord, we confess now the places in our life where we have sinned, where we have fallen short.
Gracious God, we confess that even though we pray to you, that we read your word, that sometimes we don't do as we would like to do and as you've called to do.
We speak these aloud now or in our minds.
Lord, please forgive us for these times that we have fallen short.
Lord, thank you for being our God.
Lord, thank you for hearing our words and for being with us now as we speak in our hearts and in our minds and with our words the prayer that your son Jesus prayed, our Father.
Through art and heaven, how will we thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, that as we forgive our debts,
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, provide us with human and in power and in glory forever. Amen.
Steal away, steal away to Jesus. Steal away, steal away home.
God, God, Lord, to stay here.
My Lord, He calls me, He calls me by the thunder, the trumpet sound within my soul.
I ain't got long to stay here.
Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus.
Steal away, steal away home.
I ain't got long to stay here.
Green trees are bending, poor sinner stands trembling, the trumpet sounds within my soul.
I ain't got long to stay here.
There are many ways to create pottery, you know, those nice little bowls of clay or those cups or the jars with the real pretty decorations
that we see in stores or we've made at our homes or we have some of wherever.
Maybe we even made them at a camp at one point in life, but there are many ways to create those beautiful designs.
Pottery is an art form that has been found all over the world for many, many centuries.
One of the most famous ways to create pottery that we know about today is using the potter's wheel.
This act requires moist clay, a steady hand and a steady foot and of course a wheel.
And the potter takes a lump of clay, puts it on the wheel and begins to spin the clay.
As it spins, it hollows out allowing the potter to then place his hands into the clay to shape the clay,
whichever way he would have it to go, a bowl, a plate, a small jar, whatever the desired shape may be.
Now, during the process, sometimes the clay can become too wet or it can become too hard
and it can mar the initial act of what the potter wanted it to look like.
It can deform the clay, but that doesn't mean it's ruined.
The potter can simply just take the clay and either add more clay to it or add a little water to it,
slow the wheel down or speed the wheel up and can continue making the item of choice.
The clay is not ruined simply because it has gone out of what appears to be control.
Now, I'm not here today to teach you how to make clay or use a pottery wheel or anything of the sort,
but I'm here to kind of help you maybe understand this message just a little bit better.
I realize some of you may have made or even make pottery where you may be today.
So, if you've ever created with clay, then you know if it's moist enough,
you can mold it and shape it to whatever you want it to be.
If it's moist enough, you can shape and mold it into what you want it to be.
And if it's too hard, it may be too fragile and possibly break.
If it's too wet, it may not be firm enough to handle the pressures that are being pushed up against it.
Whatever the state it is in, it's fixable with some time and patience,
a little water on a dry spot, a little kneading of the dough to get out some of the wetter spots.
The good thing about clay is that one spot doesn't ruin the potential creation.
Most of our lives are like clay, fragile, out of shape, too wet, too dry.
We may not always let on to it and most of us conceal our marred places very well,
even more so if one or two people happen to know about our condition.
We, as humans, often take on strong personalities and find ways to cover our weaknesses.
But today, know that all of our weaknesses are not bad.
Every air pocket on a wheel does not negate the beauty of the jar being made.
Weaknesses give space and opportunity for God, the great potter, to come in and strengthen us with His power and might.
Jeremiah the prophet was given the challenging task of warning Israel about their wicked ways.
They were once again falling off course, looking to idols and not obeying what God had commanded them.
So God sent Jeremiah to speak a word of truth and conviction that would hopefully turn them from their ways.
In preparation, God sent Jeremiah to a potter's house.
Jeremiah watched the potter.
He watched how he diligently worked and even what happened when the clay appeared to be marred.
God used this analogy of the potter as the people could relate and understand the workings of a potter
and what happens when clay is in the potter's hand.
God tells Jeremiah that Israel is the clay and he is the potter.
He goes on to say that at any time I can cause destruction and at any time I can rebuild it,
but it would be a choice of your behavior.
So what does this have to do with you, right?
You're not clay.
You're a human with flesh and bones and fluid, right?
We, like Israelites, fall off the wagon.
We do well getting to church and going to Sunday school and praying and reading our Bibles and spending time with God.
And then life happens.
Something causes us to stop.
Something causes us to change our minds about the things we are doing.
We have work or family needs.
We have the pressures of life that become too much.
We create new idols to worship.
We turn away from the face of God, trying to fix our own problems.
In an instant, we have become as fragile as the clay, needing to get back on the wheel.
We become tired of the everyday routine and are in need of something different.
We are the clay in God's hands and he is ready to shape us into the beautiful creations he has desired for us to be.
It doesn't matter how far gone we may be or how marred we think our pot is, we can always come back to God.
He is calling us to come back to him.
In the potter's hands, beauty is always present.
In the potter's hands is safety and assurance.
In the potter's hands there is peace.
In the potter's hands there are choices to be made.
Do we allow ourselves to come back together and be reworked?
Or do we stay as we are, falling away and bring destruction to our lives?
If we could fix ourselves, we would have done so a long time ago.
So today I ask you, will you let your weaknesses be opportunities for God to come and rework you for his purpose?
Or will you hide them, giving them room to spread throughout other areas of your life, causing more harm than good?
I want to share with you a familiar story about a cracked pot.
There was a water barrier who was going back and forth, taking water from the stream to her master's house.
And one pot was perfectly round, perfectly symmetric, had no cracks, no holes or anything.
And the other had a cracked.
Now each day the young lady would walk to the stream and get water, and by the time she made it back to the house,
the pot with the crack had lost half of its water.
The perfect pot found itself being very boastful and proud of the fact that it carried all of its water and it did everything so diligent it was perfect for the job.
This began to make the cracked pot feel bad about himself and ashamed of who he was.
And so he cried out to the young lady, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
And she looked and she said, well, why are you sorry? Why are you ashamed?
And he said to her because every day you work hard to get the water back.
And by the time you get back, I've lost half of my water.
And so she says to the pot, there's no need to be ashamed.
You see, I've known about your crack for two years.
And so I planted flower seeds, and as you see when we'll go back, flowers are beautiful.
And so as they went back, indeed the cracked pot saw that there were flowers on his side and not on the other side.
And even though it was beautiful and even though it was great, he got to the end and was still ashamed.
And she assured him again, no little pot, the beautiful flowers that you have watered are now the beautiful flowers that I take to sit on my master's table.
You have done a great job, the little pot set there.
Still wanting to be ashamed, still wanting to be sad, but the beauty that had come from the water poured out made it all the better.
You see, God can use our brokenness to create beauty if only you will find yourself in the potter's hand.
So the end and early Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me.
See, on the portals he's waiting and watching, watching for you and for me.
Come home, come home, you are willing alone.
First late and early Jesus is calling, calling, oh sinner, come home.
Oh, wonderful, all we have promised, promised for you and for me.
Oh, we have sinned, he has mercy and pardon, and for you and for me.
Come home, come home, you are willing, come home.
First late and early Jesus is calling, calling, oh sinner,
come home.
Part of Pastor Anita's sermon that was especially meaningful to me today was when she was talking about brokenness or weakness and how the potter has the ability to restore the clay and make the pot whole and useful again.
We come to this table, vulnerable, we come to this table weak.
Perhaps we even feel that we are coming to the table broken.
I suggest to us today that Jesus Christ also comes to this table broken, wounded, damaged.
It is his very brokenness that is in fact healing for you and for me when we come to this table.
Let us pray.
Gracious and loving God, we thank you that you sent your son into the world to heal us, to make us whole when we are broken.
We thank you that you have given him to make it possible for us to receive your promise of eternal life.
We ask that you will bless us now as we come to this table as we receive this bread, as we receive this cup.
May we truly be taking your son Jesus Christ into our very selves in his name we pray. Amen.
Hear the words of the Apostle Paul.
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you, that on the night he was betrayed the Lord Jesus took bread.
When he had given thanks he broke it, saying this is my body which is broken for you.
Take and eat.
And in the same manner after supper he also took the cup, saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
All is in readiness now.
Let us pray together on our knees.
Let us pray together on our knees.
When I fall on my knees with my way to the rising sun,
O Lord have mercy on me.
Let us pray together on our knees.
When I fall on my knees with my way to the rising sun,
O Lord have mercy on me.
Go forth and be new and find yourselves being remade in the potter's hand.
Bring you to a place of love and peace and share that with others among you.
In Christ's holy name, Amen.
In Christ's holy name, Amen.
