Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham. If you dare to think that God does not love you. Remember the cross. Remember when his blood was poured out for you, that his body was broken for you. You are of infinite value to God.
On today's PowerPoint. Dr. Graham brings a message about how God can redeem any life, no matter how broken.
Now here's doctor Graham with his message. Hope broken lives. Take Jeremiah, the 18th chapter, open God's Word. And I'm going to speak to you on the subject: hope. Hope for broken lives.
We see so much brokenness. All around us in people's lives. And we wonder. with all the hurt and heartache. and brokenness in the world, our world.
is Their hope. This is Jeremiah 18, a living illustration. We all typically like illustrations, whether they are great stories that come out of the Bible or stories that we hear from pulpits or lessons that we learn, parables instruct us. This is a living illustration. The potter's house.
Now making pottery. is one of the oldest, most ancient arts. And it is virtually unchanged. this art of making pottery. Unchanged.
from ancient times. If you went to a potter's shed in the Middle East or even in this country today, If you would find a house of ceramics, you would discover that Pottery is made virtually the same way as it has been done year after year after generation after generation. A few minor changes, maybe some motorization and so on, but ultimately, There is the clay. And there is a wheel that is operated with a treadle, either motorized or by your feet. And the potter puts the clay on the wheel and turns it and shapes and makes.
A vessel.
So God takes us to this vivid illustration in Jeremiah 18 to teach us some lessons. Vital lessons. at the potter's house. And what do we learn? On our trip to the Potter's Shed.
That is That failure is not final. When you put your life in the master's hands. This was originally spoken to a nation, the nation of Israel. And certainly it's a word for America today. And there's so much brokenness in this country.
As Jeremiah described the nation of Israel. We are facing Disaster. And no. human being can make America great again. We have political problems, we have moral problems, we are broken morally, spiritually, politically, financially.
We are a broken people. And only God can fix it. Only God can change the future. of our nation. And what is true for The nation is true for you and me.
That we are on the potter's wheel. We like the clay. are in the masters. Hands. What do we learn there?
Let's think for a few moments. about the shaping of a person's life. Verse 3 tells us that The potter. Places the clay on the wheel. We don't have to wonder who is the potter.
Because God tells us in verse 6 that He is the potter. Can I not do with you, O Israel, as the potter does with the clay? The potter represents God. He is the divine potter. And like The potter, God makes us and shapes us.
He sovereignly breaks us and makes us into the persons that he desires us to be. God is the master workman. And he has a plan. A purpose. in making every life.
The Bible says we are free. fearfully and wonderfully May. The handprint of God is upon every life. The echo of God is in every soul. And his design, his desire.
is to make a beautiful vessel. For his glory, for his use. valuable and beautiful and useful. You are not the result of chaos. or confusion in the universe.
You are not the result of random chance. Mankind, humankind, is made by God Himself. In fact, we're told in Genesis chapter 1 that He made man in His own image. The very image and identity of God is in our humanity. We were made for an eternal purpose.
Just as God cannot cease to exist, you cannot cease to exist. The breath, the life of God, God breathed His life into mankind. The life of God, therefore, is in mankind. We know, of course, that that life became flawed. Because of sin distorted.
and depraved. That the original intent of God and God's purpose and plan for every life. is for you to be a beautiful expression of his love. You are not loved because you are valuable. You are valuable.
Because you are loved. Love by God. And your soul, your very being. cries out. To know the God who made you.
Who created you for himself? You are made by him and for him. We will never find happiness. or hope in life. in chasing pleasure.
or money, our possessions, our property. We'll not find it in drugs or alcohol or sex. These do not bring Peace and promise that only God can give. The happiness that is expected. You know, they say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over and over again and expecting a different result.
Sin is spiritual insanity because somehow we think that by more sin. Or by living my own life my own way again and again and again, I will ultimately get a different result and be happy. The fact is, God is for your happiness. He made you for his goodwill. The chief end of man is to know God, enjoy Him forever.
You were made to know. Him. and the happiness and fulfillment. and the forever life. That he gives.
The reason that some of you don't have security and identity in your life. is because you are living outside of a relationship with God who made you. God is the divine Cotter. But what is the clay? Who is?
The clay.
Well, of course, we. B The clay. We are The clay.
Now that's not very flattering, is it? The clay is Colorless. It's basically Worthless in and of itself is It's just wet. Dirt. You know, there's no beauty.
in the clay itself. But When God gets his hand, when the divine potter gets his hand on the clay. And begins to shape it and make it and even break it and bend it. He makes something beautiful of our lives. You know, the Bible says that we were made from the dust of the earth.
I actually went on my phone, Siri, to ask what is. the physical financial value of a human body. And she said, This is what I found. And I got several articles that showed up. And the answer ranged from $3.95 to $5, $6, $7, not much.
But to God. You're worth everything. The God who made you, who created you, and recreates you in Christ. He loves you so much. You're so valuable to him that he sent his darling son to the cross.
Because you see Jesus God became clay. He took on. human flesh. And that claim Was pure. But it was broken.
And his life poured out for us on the cross. If you'd Dare to think that God does not love you. Remember the cross. Remember that his blood was poured out for you. That his body was broken for you.
You are of infinite value to God. Eternal. Value to God. Jesus said, What does it profit a man should he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? You are eternal, immortal soul.
that will be here endless, timeless, dateless, immortal. Is more valuable than all the worlds and everything in it put together. You are clay, but you're God's clay. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message: Hope for broken lives. How would your life change if you applied a bit of practical wisdom each day of the month?
Find out by joining Dr. Graham in October as he dives into practical wisdom from the Bible. Each day will send its short teaching from God's Word to help you grow in wisdom and live the life He desires. If you're ready, text CHALLENGE to 59-789 and we'll get started. Again, that's challenge to 59789.
We'd love to send you a powerful resource from Dr. Jack Graham called The Jesus Book, a Christ-centered journey through scripture that shows how every part of the Bible reveals the person and work of Jesus. This book will help you understand how the entire Bible points to Christ from Genesis to Revelation. And how His living word can bring peace, confidence, and clarity to your daily walk with Him. The Jesus Book is our thanks for your gift of $10 or more.
And so when you give, know that your support helps take God's word across the airwaves, into homes, prisons, and hearts all over the world. To give your gift and get your copy of the Jesus book? Text the word book to 59789. Again, text book to 59789.
Now let's get back to today's message. Hope for broken lives. Now what is the wheel? If the potter, the divine potter, takes the clay and and begins to work with it and and having created it begins to caress it and move it and shape it. He then, when it's just right, pliable enough, throws it on the wheel.
And the wheel spins it round and round. And there's a treadle at his feet that he is moving, like a pedal on a piano here, just moving the treadle as he's moving the wheel. What is the wheel? The wheel represents the daily turn and twist of life. Directed By the potter.
Turn by the hand and the feet of God. Life is on God's potter's wheel. James told us something like this. When he said that life is like the cycle, he spoke of the cycle or the wheel of life. And so when we, the clay, are Tossed on to the wheel of life and we begin to turn The master craftsman, the maker, begins to shape us by turns and twists.
Sometimes rapidly speeding up the wheel, sometimes slowing it down to an almost interminable level. The twist of life. Not the blind fate or chance of life. But again, the wheel of life. directed By the divine potter.
We're not going just round and round and round and round in circles. If you are a believer. In the Lord Jesus Christ, you are according to Ephesians 10. 2.10, his workmanship. created in Jesus Christ unto Good works.
And is God turns the wheel of your life. He knows what he's doing. He is sovereign. Over all of those turns In tragedy, In sorrow. In grief.
In pain, he knows it all, and he's working it. Working it. And when you go through one of those times in life when the pressure is on, the hands of the potter seem to be pushing too hard. When the potter's hands meet the tragedies of life. And the test of life.
Romans 8:28 is still right where it's always been in the Bible. For God is still working all things together for good. He's working. creatively, constructively, continually in his child. He's working all things together for the good to those who love the Lord.
Watch this, to those who love the Lord. and are fitting into his plan. Who are walking according to his plan and purposes in our lives? God is working intelligently. and individually.
On your life and in your life.
So God is turning the wheel of life. And because he does. He turns ultimately. every sorrow to joy. every grief to comfort.
Every pain to healing. Every loss to gain. The divine potter is in charge, and he's making something beautiful of your life. That's the shaping. of a person's life.
But then I want you to see at the Potter's house. The spoiling. Of a person's life. Look at verse 4 again in chapter 18 of Jeremiah. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled.
In the potter's hand. Spoiled. Marred. There is a defect. That shows up.
You see the frown on the potter's face. And the wheel slows, and his hands. Cease moving. As he finds something in the clay that is resistant. to the work of his hands.
Something in the clay that becomes a problem.
Now, what's the problem here? This Clay that was spoiled. this vessel. That was spoiled in the very hand of the one who made it. The problem is not in the potter or in the potter's hands.
skilled and always successful. The problem is in the pot. It's in the vessel itself.
Some of you who are listening to me today are resisting. The work of God's hands in your life. You are struggling against. His hands.
some secret in your life. That is stiffening your resistance to God.
Some impurity. That is in your human clay. A brittleness, a bitterness. And God cannot do what He desires to do in the design of your life. To bring about the beauty and the glory of you, his vessel, because you're holding back, you're pushing him away.
Whether it be sorrow or whether it be circumstances, some blame the circumstances of their lives. For the problem in their clay. God, if you had not made me, I've even heard as a pastor, I've heard over the years, people blame God. God, why did you make me like this? Why am I like this?
And with Raise this. Curse the name of God. You know, there are some. things in life you cannot change. There are some givens.
Some veritables in life that you cannot change. For example, the date of your birth. The day you were born, you can change your age if you want, but that would be lying. You can't change. The date of your birth.
You can't change. There was something you didn't have anything to say about, and that was the place of your birth. I don't have a lot to say about some of the basic components of who I am and what I am like, and my DNA, and my genetic code, and all the rest. These are givens. But I want you to remember today that when God made you, He made you for His purpose.
And if you will live in the potter's hands. He will shape you and make you exactly the way he wants you to be. As someone elegantly put it one time, when God made us, God don't make no junk. You are not a mistake. You are a miracle.
Made by the master's hand.
Some blame their flaws and failures on the wheel itself, the circumstances. of life, you don't understand. If I had more education, if I'd been born in a better place, if I had a better opportunity, if I hadn't been sick, if I could get well, all the circumstances, and we rail at God. Because we're on the wheel in a place we don't enjoy. And yet all along He's using the turn of the wheel.
and the twist of the clay. To make us into his image. There is rhyme and reason and logic. in life. when you yield to the touch of the master's hand.
Have you said, Lord, I give you my life? Have you said, Lord? Take my life. Make my life, break my life, shape my life. Have you said, as the old songwriter said, have thine own way, Lord?
Have thine own way. Thou art the potter. I am the clay. Mold me and make me after thy will while I am waiting. Yielding.
And still. Have you yielded your life? To the touch. And the transformation of the master's hands, because remember this, God always gives his best to them who leave the choice with him.
So we see a vessel shaped. We see a vessel spoiled, but thank God there's something else. We see here, we learn here at the Potter's House that. We see the saving. Of a person's life, the saving of this vessel.
Look at verse 4, chapter 18 again. And the vessel he was making of clay spoiled in the potter's hand, and what did he do? Did he throw it away? No. He reworked it.
He reworked it into another vessel.
Some say he mended it. No, he made it over. He made it again. As it seemed good. For the potter to do.
Thank God for the saving. of a person's life, the saving of this vessel. representing you here. Our God, the divine potter, is the God of the second chance. And the third, and the fourth, and another, and another, how many you need is called.
Grace. It's that marvelous grace, that majestic, magnificent grace. Grace. That we are made. Again.
Literally, in the Hebrew, it says that it was marred again and again. It was spoiled over and over again. But he kept remaking it. Is God through with you? Because you have failed him.
No. No. No, a thousand times no. Our God is the God of new beginnings. And because of the cross, because of the power of the resurrection.
even though you've messed up. and you're broken. You can be made again. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message. Hope for broken lives.
Pastor, there is an upcoming opportunity for our listeners to join you on the trip of a lifetime. Can you tell us more? I want to personally invite you to join me for something very special. It's the Patriot Tour to Washington, D.C., April 22nd through 27th, 2026. As we celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States, we're going to visit some of the most powerful and historic places in our nation's capital, like the U.S.
Capitol, Arlington National Cemetery, the National Monuments, Mount Vernon, and the Museum of the Bible. This won't be just a tour, it will be a spiritual journey. Really, I'll be opening God's Word along the way, teaching us about the spiritual foundations, the biblical foundations of our nation, and the hope that we have for the future.
So registration is now open and I'd love for you to be a part of this unforgettable experience. For more information and to reserve your spot today, text Patriot to 59789. Can't wait to see you there. How would your life change if you applied a bit of practical wisdom each day of the month? Find out by joining Dr.
Graham in October as he dives into practical wisdom from the Bible. Each day will send its short teaching from God's Word to help you grow in wisdom and live the life He desires. If you're ready, text Challenge to 59-789. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today? Have you ever had the experience, maybe back when you were a child, of having a splinter in your finger or in your foot, and then came the fear that someone, your mom or your dad, or God forbid, your brother or sister, was going to take your hand and start digging with tweezers.
to get that splinter out.
Now the splinter hurts. and you know it could get infected because your mother told you so. And you got to get it out. But maybe you would rather suffer through pain and be in control of your misery than let someone else. Take the splinter out.
That's what it's like when we hesitate to give our broken lives, our. messes to God. We're afraid of losing control. We're afraid of giving someone else our lives. We're afraid of how long it might take and how much it might hurt.
But it is that very fear that keeps us from healing. is the fear. that keeps us from trusting in the great physician who can truly transform our lives. Remember, God isn't just cleaning up your problem. He's transforming your life.
He wants to take your broken life and put it together again if you will give him. all the pieces. The one who made you And even though you have been marred in his hands, you can be made again. Sin is such a powerful and destructive force. It breaks so many lives.
But let me remind you: God loves you. Jesus died on the cross for your sins, and He loves you so much. That he's chasing you down right now to offer you forgiveness and to change your heart, your mind, your future forever.
So let Jesus Perform a little divine surgery in your life today. Let him take your wounded hand. and your broken heart. and heal your soul. Let Jesus make something beautiful.
out of your life. And that is Today's PowerPoint. Remember, when you give a gift of $10 or more to PowerPoint, we'll send you a copy of Dr. Graham's book, The Jesus Book, as our thanks. Text the word book to 59-789.
And join us again next time as Dr. Grimm brings a message about what you'll experience at the Rapture. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.
