February 27, 2025
From your Pastor
The Stubborn Clay
19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Romans 9:19-22 (KJV)
Some people have the idea that God says, “I’m going to make two vessels. I’m going to make a vessel to send to Heaven.
I’m going to make another vessel to send to Hell.
People are just like clay, and I’m the potter.
So, I’m going to make vessels and determine where they go.”
Is that how God is displayed in the Bible and specifically in the Book of Romans? – No!
What potter would ever make a vessel just so he could destroy it?
Can you imagine a potter in a potter’s shop making a bunch of vessels and setting them on a shelf, and then taking a stick and breaking them all to pieces?
The reason that some vessels were destroyed in the above passage is they did not realize the purpose of the potter.
Look in the passage where it says, “Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you Made me like this?’”
It doesn’t say the thing Created, but the thing Formed.
Here God is Shaping, and some will not take the shaping.
– God is longsuffering.
Lyndy Clear, a gentleman from my childhood would say as he testified of the Lord, He would say I would ask God why did you make me this way? (You see Lyndy had a deformity that was very noticeable.)
But he would say that he ask God one night why He had made him that way? Lyndy said God spoke to him in that small still voice, and said “Lyndy, I made you this way to show everyone that I’m not particular in whom I dwell”
Beloved, God is forming and working, but these vessels of wrath are not yielding to the hands of the potter.
I’m asking you, will you let God form you instead of insisting on your own way?
You may ask how do we yield to God’s forming?
How do we know who He is forming us to be like?
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2 (KJV)
Let me ask you my friend, what are some things God has put on your heart that you have resisted?
We have in our hymnal a song “I Surrender All” (Judson W. Van DeVenter)
All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.
All to Jesus I surrender, Make me Saviour whlly Thine: Let me feel the Holy Spirit Truly know that Thou art mine
All to Jesus I surrender, Lord I give my-self to Thee: Fill me with Thy love and power, Let Thy blessings fall on me.
I surrender all, All to Thee my blessed Saviour. I surrender All.
Surrender to God and ask Him to help you to obey where you have been resisting Him.
Thank you for allowing me to share God’s Word with you.
Linda and I love you ALL!!
God Bless
Pastor Roger