Clay Pots - 2 Corinthians 4:7

Welcome to Weekly Wisdom, an inspirational series hosted by Pastor Jeff Schreve. Each week, Pastor Jeff illuminates different sections of the Holy Bible, meticulously extracting pivotal themes and life lessons that can enrich and uplift your daily life. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Two Corinthians, Chapter four, verse seven says this, but we
have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness
of the power may be of God and not from ourselves.
Let's pray together, Father in heaven. We love you, We
praise you. Thank you for all you do to bless
our lives. Lord, what a treasure you've given us in Jesus.

(00:22):
May we never take the gift of your son for
granted before we pray in his name. Amen.

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Speaker 1 (01:45):
Well, thank you for listening to this episode of the
Weekly Wisdom Podcast. I'm Pastor Jeffshtree from Tech Sarcana, Texas. Now,
as you know, the Mona Lisa is one of the
most famous paintings in the world. This exquisite work from
the Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci has an estimated value

(02:05):
of nearly nine hundred million dollars. When people view this masterpiece,
they never walk away talking about the beauty and majesty
of the picture frame. Now, the frame is necessary, but
it's totally unimportant. The focus is always on the painting,
not the frame. Now. In a similar way, Paul says,

(02:27):
the life of every Christian can be viewed as a
priceless treasure. The Lord himself living in a clay pot
an earthen vessel. In our frail humanity, the very best
of us, the most gifted, talented, and attractive among us,
is really nothing more than mud dried in a kiln.

(02:49):
All the true beauty comes from the indwelling presence of
God's spirit within us. What important lessons do we learn
from the analogy that we're a clay pot on earthen vessel. Well,
Number one, clay pots are humble vessels. They're not fancy,
expensive or highly prized. They are humble and lowly, and

(03:11):
God likes humble and lowly. In fact, he will not
use a proud vessel, only a humble one. You can
never be too small for God to use, but you
can certainly be too big. Remember James four six. God
is opposed to the proud, but he gives grace to
the humble. Second thing about clay pots, they're ordinary vessels.

(03:32):
Families in the first century would have a number of
clay pots used for different things around the house. They
were not treasured works of art, just ordinary vessels for
daily use. Paul says in One Corinthians, Chapter one, verse
twenty six, for consider your calling, brethren, that there were
not many wives according to the flesh, not many mighty,
not many noble. Hey, most of the people God uses

(03:56):
are not extraordinary. They're just ordinary, just a kana folks.
But when ordinary people are yielded to the indwelling Holy Spirit,
they can do extraordinary things and God gets all the glory.
So Clay Potts, they're humble vessels, their ordinary vessels. And thirdly,
they're expendable vessels. Because they are humble and ordinary, they're expendable.

(04:22):
What exactly does that mean? It means that life is
not about us, It's about him now. To be sure,
God loves us, and he considers us precious and special.
But he's working out a plan for his glory and
his honor. We are privileged to take part in it.
But He is always center stage because he alone is God.
Our only job is to be faithful to him, to

(04:45):
be faithful to his calling on our lives, to be faithful,
to speak the truth and love and walk in his ways.
Jesus said to the church in Philadelphia, be faithful until death,
and I will give you the crown of life. I
love the story that is to the great violinist of
the nineteenth century, Niccolo Paganini. He was one of the

(05:06):
best to ever pick up a bow. During his heyday,
the people started to believe that a big part of
his greatness was due to his instrument. Sure, Paganini was great,
but it's because Poganini had a great violin. That talk
began to ruffle Paganini's feathers. So one night, as he
was giving a concert, he began to tune his instrument

(05:27):
on stage before the crowd, and as he was tuning,
he broke a string on his violin. Then he broke another,
and another, and with only one string left, Poganini played
a melody that reportedly brought a hush of awe to
the crowd. When he finished playing, he got an ovation,

(05:49):
He said to the mesmerized audience. One string and Paganini
one string and Paganini, Hey, glory belongs to Jesus. You
and I are simply a clay pot, a violin with
three broken strings. May we always remember who He is,

(06:11):
a priceless treasure, and who we are, a humble, common,
expendable vessel. May we rejoice in the fact that God
uses ordinary vessels just like you and me, to do
extraordinary things by his grace and power. Praise God for
the treasure that dwells within such a lowly and unimpressive container.

(06:32):
Let's pray together, Father in Heaven, we stand amazed at
what you can do through an ordinary, unimpressive clay pot
such as we are. Forgive us, Lord for putting so
much emphasis on the frame, when the real beauty is
the painting and the work that you are doing in
our character. May people see Jesus in us as we

(06:56):
yield our lives each day to your lordship, and we
pray them all in Jesus name. Amen. Well, thanks for
listening to this episode of the Weekly Wisdom Podcast. I'm
Pastor Jeff Shreeve and I would love to connect with you.
Please visit my ministry website at Fromhisheart dot org for
resources and other opportunities to help you grow in your faith,

(07:17):
for more wisdom to last a lifetime, and to make
prayer priority in your life. Download Theprey dot com app.
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Thanks again for listening. Make it a great week, and
may God richly bless you