176 Thursday, June 24, 2009

176 Jeremiah 018 - 020; Acts 2.14 – 2.47

Who is in control?
Jeremiah 18:3-6 (MSG)
3 So I went to the potter's house, and sure enough, the potter was there, working away at his wheel. 4 Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot. 5 Then God's Message came to me:
6 "Can't I do just as this potter does, people of Israel?" God's Decree! "Watch this potter. In the same way that this potter works his clay, I work on you, people of Israel.

We by nature do not like others to be in control. We like to feel we are in control. However, that is the lie, we cannot be in control. We are too small to be in control. If God is who He is says He is then He and only He can be in control. Hence, we are the clay and God is the potter. We have to trust God. We have to trust that He is good. Jeremiah who was the one to deliver this message met up with resistance. He met up with so much resistance that he was beaten and placed in jail. How did Jeremiah feel about his lot in life?

Jeremiah 20:14 (MSG)
14 Curse the day I was born! The day my mother bore me— a curse on it, I say!
This is why he was known as the weeping prophet. Jeremiah knew he was having a bad day. He wept, he lamented, and he got it out in the open. He also was a tough guy. What do you do when you are having a bad day? What do you do when you are really following the Lord and still are having a bad day?

Peter delivered a hard message to Israel. They not only were disobedient as before in the days of old, they crucified God’s son. Yet, all Israel had to do was repent of their sins and believe in Jesus. God always wants us to come back. God always wants us to come home. The Lord has made a way for us to come back. We have to want to come back. We have to say yes to God’s work on our behalf. Right now are you saying yes or are you saying no to your Lord and Savior?