Bible Study: The Potter

Last Sunday, our pastor preached on the God’s potter illustration.  It is found in Jeremiah 18:1-10:

The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.

The sermon inspired me to post my own thoughts:

The key verse is verse 4:

And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

• The vessel was “made of clay”: Clay is a type of soil or rock.  God formed “man of the dust of the ground” according to Genesis 2:7.
• The vessel was “marred in the hand of the potter” not BY the hand of the potter.  I think of Job in that it wasn’t God who caused all of the disaster: it was Satan and God just allowed it.
• I picture a rock or some hard place in the clay that is not moldable.  As the pot spins, it would catch the potter’s hand and instead of fitting the form He was making, it would cut into the surrounding clay.  The potter would have to pull that rock out before He could continue.  God is constantly refining us and removing those rebellious, sinful spots from us.
• “he made IT again” not he threw it away and started again with another piece of clay.  He is the God of second chances.  II Peter 3:9 says he is longsuffering and not willing that any should perish.  It doesn’t matter what we have done, God is in the bussiness of remaking.

Illustrations for Kids

Yesterday, I was searching for a fun illustration for our Awanas group.  I found several of them, and wanted to share/preserve them for use later.

I first thought of the illustration using Iodine and water:

Cleansing Blood of Jesus

Here are some instructions that might help:

Nothing Gold Can Say

This is another way of doing it:

YouTube: Cool Gospel Presentation

Here are the instructions for doing this:

The Story of Hank

Because I couldn’t find the chemicals to use that illustration, I ended out using this one:

The Pop Quiz

Bible Study: April Fool’s Day 3

This morning, I came upon this verse:

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

– Proverbs 17:22

Is it possible that April Fool’s Day could be therapeutic?  If it brings a smile, I would say so.

Graphics Lend Credibility

A Sunday School teacher several weeks told a great story about this fantastic creature that went through a cycle sort of like a butterfly.   He had a great power point presentation with pictures to back it up.  He even passed around some specimens.  He had a biology degree and plenty of experience to back it all up.  Come to find out, he made the whole thing up.  The specimens were things you might even be able to find in your backyard and they were totally unrelated.

The point was that just because books have all these pictures and charts and seemingly “scientific” evidence, we assume that evolution is true.  If you really look at the facts, creationism really makes more sense.

Bible Study: April Fool’s Day 2

Building on the previous post,  here is another thought about April Fool’s Day.  April Fool’s Day is not a holiday for the truth!

The Bible says that Jesus is the truth:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

– John 14:6

The verse says Jesus is the truth, not that He is truthful.  If he was just truthful, one dishonest slip or action would simply mean that he is just not quite as full of the truth.  But, the truth is His identity.  One dishonest slip and Jesus ceases to be who He claims.  The truth is important to Christ!

We are called to be like Jesus, which could only mean that we should strive to be honest in all things.  For example, Paul said:

Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

I Corithians 11:1

We follow Jesus’ example not to obtain salvation, but because of what He did for us.  After receiving salvation from Him, following His example is the least we could do.  Any, maybe it will lead others to accepting His free gift of salvation.

In conclusion, any April Fool’s joke should at least be clear in that it is a joke.  You should not leave the reader or observer to doubt when all is said and done what is the truth.  The goal should be to make people laugh, not deceive them.

Bible Study: April Fool’s Day

Is April Fool’s Day Biblical?  Well, I know that the Bible is still applicable on April Fool’s Day, but God wants us to enjoy life and have fun at the same time.  So, this year, I would like to explore humor guidelines and April Fool’s Day from the perspective of the Bible.  So, if you have any input, please sound off in the comments.

First thought:

Master, which is the great commandment in the law?  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

– Matthew 22:36-39

The golden rule still applies on April Fool’s Day.  We should ask ourselves this question before any joke: would I want this joke played on me?  That doesn’t mean we can’t play any jokes, but we want the other person to laugh, not get angry.

Please let me know if you have any other ideas for where to take this study.  I started by looking up “funny” and “humor” in my Thompson Chain study Bible, but I didn’t find either.

Pictures of Petra

We have been reading the Left Behind series and are currently in the book called Desecration.  They have been talking about Petra, and we wanted to see pictures of it.  At the same time, I came across some articles saying that Google has begun hosting the images from Life Magazine.  You can view the images by adding “source:life” to your Google Image Query.  I found a few pictures of Petra in the collection.

Here are some more links about Petra:

• Wikipedia
• Petra Website
• Petra: Brown University

Bible Study: Disciplining Children

I learned a new lesson today from the AWANA material that I have been reading.  They mentioned this verse:

But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
– Hebrews 12:8

Of course, this verse encourages us that God’s discipline shows us we are saved and one of His children.  If we sin and break God’s rules, and God does nothing to correct us, we should search our hearts and make sure that we have accepted God’s free gift of salvation.

The AWANA material pointed out another angle that I had not seen before.  Our relationship with our children , though imperfect, is like our relationship with God.  With this in mind, if our children don’t receive discipline from us when they do wrong, they will not receive the affirmation of our relationship the way that they should.