The Making of a Vessel of Honor

“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the LORD. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!” (Jeremiah 18:6)

I am reminded of a story about a small child who, day after day, watched a sculptor working on a marble slab. At last there came the moment when the child caught her breath in amazement and said to the sculptor, “But how did you know there was a lion in there?” It is said that Michelangelo sculptured his statue “David” by taking a block of granite and chipping away everything that wasn’t David. This is the basic process by which God forms us and molds us to be a useful part of His Kingdom… a vessel of honor. He starts with nothing but a piece of clay and then He molds us and chips away at everything that doesn't look like Jesus.

A Savior Has Come

Christmas is an amazing time of the year. Christmas carols, candles glowing, Christmas trees twinkle, and the laughter and joy that makes this time so special to us all. However your family celebrates this wonderful season, one thing is for certain…if you know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, it’s a time when you pay special attention to Him…His birth and the reason He came to this sin-filled world. For even though He came as a helpless baby…His purpose was to die so that we might be reconciled to the Father through Him.

At this time of the year I love to go over the Biblical accounts of His birth and I try to imagine what it would have been like back then. I usually enjoy reading Luke’s account of His birth, and I am always fascinated when I come to the part about the shepherds in the field “watching their flock by night”. There they were just going through their normal routine, and then chapter 2 verses 8-12 records that an angel appeared to them and announced the birth of the Savior…and then as I read on in verses 13 and 14 a wonderful thing took place. Luke describes it this way, “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” I try to envision how they must have felt as they stood there in that open field, and as far as their eyes could see in either direction, the skies were full of angelic beings shouting praises to the New Born King. What an awesome sight it must have been. I love that story.

What Breaks the Heart of God?

Think about that question for a moment…what breaks the heart of God? What makes Him weep? What are the things that God wants more than anything else to be different? In order to answer that question, we need to look no further than the life that Jesus lived while He was on the earth. Jesus came to the earth to show us a physical manifestation of who the Father is and what He is like. He demonstrated the heart of the Father in everything He did while He lived in human form. He said in John 14:7-10, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.’ Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.” So when you have seen the heart of Jesus, you have seen the heart of the Father. So let’s look at some examples of the things that broke Jesus’ heart, and then we will know how Father God feels also.

Never Late, Always On Time

I've often thought of Abraham, and what his life must have been like. What a man of faith and courage he was! Yes, he had a few lapses along the way, but every great man or woman of God does. The object is to finish well and to believe God to get you to the end having finished everything He desired for your life. And Abraham certainly did that. He made it to the end of the race and won the Crown of Faithfulness.

Think about what he endured. Originally, God told him to leave everything familiar to him…his family, his homeland, and go to an uncertain destination. Abraham chose to obey God, and God gave him a series of promises. In Genesis 12:1-3, God promised, “Get out of your country, from you kindred and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” 

How To Survive Satan’s Attack on Your Life

“And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.” Then He said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.” (Luke 22:31-34)

And, as we know from the rest of the story, that Satan did tempt Peter to deny Christ, and it was a very dramatic and chaotic time in Peter’s life. Friends, I want to tell you right now…it is no secret that Satan…the enemy of your soul…wants to destroy your faith…he wants to destroy your testimony…and he wants to destroy your life. As I was reading this scripture, I was reminded of a familiar story in the Old Testament.

God Creates Good Out of Bad Situations

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

This is by far one of the most misunderstood portions of scripture in the Bible because when bad things happen, we only tend to look at the bad…the suffering…the pain. It hurts so much and we cannot see past the difficulty of what we are going through right at that moment in order to see anything good that may possibly come from it. But, oftentimes when we are past the pain and beyond the sorrow, we can look back and then we can see that God’s hand was at work in the situation and how He worked good things together even in the midst of great sorrow.

And You Shall Receive Power….

The time of the Pentecost (meaning 50th day) celebration had come and many people once again crowded the streets of Jerusalem to offer sacrifices as required by the law for the Feast of the Harvest and also to give thanks to God for their bounty. But the eleven followers of Christ, along with the women and the brothers of Jesus had been huddled in the upper room where they were staying for days now, praying and waiting. During this time they had chosen a replacement for Judas, who had betrayed Jesus; a man named Matthias, and altogether there were about 120 present now waiting for the promise that Jesus had given them just before He was taken into Heaven. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) 

You Must Be Born Again

I want to share with you today about a man in the Bible...His name was Nicodemus. He was a ruler of the Jews...a Pharisee...a leader in religious law. Now Nicodemus was a very educated man in the law of God...in fact, he had committed his life to learning and enforcing the law of God and he was a very respected man in his leadership position. His story is found in the 3rd chapter of the book of John. I want to share that story with you now if I may:

• "There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” (Verses 1-2) 

What Sign Do You Seek?

“Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)

His life began with miracles...signs and wonders on every hand. His conception was announced to Mary by an angel (Luke 1:28-38), and to Joseph in a dream. (Matthew 1:20-21) It was told to them that this child would be conceived of the Holy Spirit, and He would be called the Son of God (Luke 1:32-35) As the shepherds watched their flocks, a multitude of the heavenly hosts appeared in the sky, proclaiming the glory of God (Luke 2:8-17); and a star was seen of the wise men who traveled from the east in search of the Christ Child, that they might worship Him (Matthew 2:9-10). Signs, wonders and miracles surrounded His birth.

There Is NO Shortcut!

“Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:12-13)

When it comes to spiritual growth, I will tell you this fact up front; there is NO shortcut! As I am talking to people about their Christian disciplines, I am often asked how does a person go about maturing in their spiritual life. Many people think that if they could only go to more church services or more Bible studies or go to Bible College or obtain more college degrees, that they will become more effective in their spiritual walk and that will enable them to do more in their ministries. But that mindset is so far from the truth! Christian maturity does not happen only with your Bible knowledge…but it has EVERYTHING to do with your relationship with God.

A Lesson in Faith

I want to spend some time in this message for the next few minutes looking at one the most important subjects of our Christian walk…and that is the subject of Faith…and I can think of no better place to learn about Faith than in the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews. If you will turn there with me we’re going to be looking at a few scriptures that I believe will help us to learn what faith is and what it is not…and how to get more of it. Verse 2 tells us “For by it (faith) the elders obtained a good testimony.” And I think if we want to have a good testimony, we need to learn how to grow in the area of faith.

And so the first questions that we might ask are, “Just what is Faith? And how do we obtain more of it?” Well, verse one explains very clearly what faith is. It says “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” According to this verse, faith is “substance”…it’s real…there’s nothing phony or fake about faith! It’s not your imagination…it’s not something you conjure up in your mind…it is genuine and it’s real! And, this scripture also tells us that faith is “evidence”. When a crime is committed, the investigators go to the scene of the crime and they begin to look for “evidence”. They are looking for something that will prove to them beyond a doubt how the crime was committed. 

7 Kinds of People That Jesus Touches

When I read the gospel writers’ accounts of the life of Jesus, I am always fascinated by His miracles, and His insightful teachings. To imagine that He turned water into wine, or fed the multitude with a small boy’s lunch; and to listen to the Sermon on the Mount or the parables that He taught. And then, when I read about how He spoke to demons and they vacated the premises at His word, and the raging sea became calm again; and to think that His friend Lazarus got up and walked out of the grave…nothing could be more amazing than that. But I believe the most impressive thing to me about Jesus is the way He loved people. Everywhere He went there were throngs of people because this man was different. They could see in Him a genuine care and concern for them individually. There was something about the look in His eyes, a certain gentleness in the tone of His voice, patience even when they couldn’t understand the things He was trying to teach them. They each knew that He loved them. They understood that He could have condemned them…but He didn’t. Instead, He comforted them and gave them a sense of hope. I want to be like that. I want to touch people’s lives the way Jesus did. Don’t you?

So let’s take a look at some of the people that Jesus ministered to, and think about how He must have made them feel. In doing so, you may see something about your own situation, and realize how He can also touch your life. Or you may think of someone you know in these situations, and you may realize that, if you can minister to them with love and concern the way Jesus did, you may be used of God to change their lives.

“Garbage In – Garbage Out”

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” (Philippians 4:8)

Do you know that whatever you feed your spirit is what is also going to come out in your life? Do you also know that you have the ability to control what you think about, what you read, what you watch and what you meditate on? You have control over your own spiritual well-being simply by controlling what you allow to go into your mind. And you feed your spirit-being every day by the things you listen to, the things you watch on T.V., the music you hear, the things you read, the things you talk about and the things you think about. You have a zillion choices to make every day…and how you choose greatly affects how you grow spiritually.