The Potter's House

Pastor Raymond gave a sermon on Jer. 18:1-6 . I thought I'd just post it somewhere so it's around, because I thought it was very well presented. He described the process of creating pottery and made spiritual parallels to describe how God molds us.

① Election
Nowadays bags of clay are available from the art store, but in the olden days potters had to dig up their own clay. In spiritual terms, this is equivalent to God's election of his chosen people. We have worth because God chose us.
② Cleansing
Clay has to have all the debris removed, or else it will cause the piece to crack in the oven.
(I didn't write down the analogy for this point, I'm assuming it was forgiveness?)
③ Wedging: knead the clay, and throw it against a surface
☞ to remove air pockets (analogous to pride), God causes suffering, in order to create humility
☞ to achieve plasticity - to make the clay soft enough to mold, yet hard enough to retain shape. In order to be soft enough to be molded by God, we need to have God's Word to treat our spiritual dryness.
☞ porosity - for moisture to escape while drying, without cracking, the potter adds grog (broken up, ground up pottery from past failed pieces). This is the past experiences, both good and bad, that we've had so that no experiences are wasted. These hardships allow us to give advice to others who are experiencing the same thing.
④ Centering
The wheel is analogous to the turning, moving circumstances of life. We need to center ourselves on God's Will, and keep God at the center of our lives or else it's all in vain (Ps. 127:1).
⑤ Molding (Pressure)
This is when the potter starts shaping the clay into what he wants. If it doesn't take the right form, he collapses it and starts over again. God keeps working with a lump of clay until it takes the form He wants. Sometimes we tend to resist God's work, but we need to accept His Sovereignty.
⑥ Waiting (Patience)
The clay piece has to air dry before going into the oven. This is the same as periods of spiritual/emotional dryness. Don't trust emotions!
⑦ Glazing - not necessary or functional
⑧ Firing
Causes irreversible changes in the pottery - it hardens, shrinks, and can hold water (not porous anymore). These are the trials that cause genuine faith.
How do you come out after a trial? Do you become an instrument for noble purpose?