Introduction

Everyone has to fill their lives with something, some use drugs and alcohol while others use work and hobbies to fill their lives. Everyone is also being moulded by someone or something, Some allow the media to mould them whilst others allow their heroes to mould them.

If there is one thing you could change about your physical appearance, what would it be?

If there is one thing you could change about your spiritual life, what would it be?

There’s a T.V. series called ‘The great pottery throw down’ on channel four at the moment, where contestants are challenged to create a different item using clay.

It’s incredible what they can create out of a lump of clay, some of the vases and statues they create are just amazing but others not so much. These are usually the ones which end up being ruined because they didn’t handle the clay properly.

But if you’ve ever seen anyone at the potter’s wheel, you will notice that they create something which to us looks brilliant, but then they decided to smash it down and start again. Why do they do that? Because they’re trying to create an even better work.

‘This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: ‘Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.’ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the LORD came to me. He said, ‘Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?’ declares the LORD. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.’ Jeremiah 18:1-6

When Jeremiah saw the man shaping the clay, but who marred it?

He formed another pot but by whose standards?

Whose shaping your life? What kind of things shapes our lives?

In a sense we are all marred by our own actions and the world around us, we allow all the wrong people to try to shape us into something we were never intended to be.

What kind of things could happen in people’s lives where they just want a new beginning?

What difference does it make when we allow Christ to shape our lives?

‘The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, ‘Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.’ Elisha replied to her, ‘How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?’ ‘Your servant has nothing there at all,’ she said, ‘except a small jar of olive oil.’ Elisha said, ‘Go around and ask all your neighbours for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.’ She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, ‘Bring me another one.’ But he replied, ‘There is not a jar left.’ Then the oil stopped flowing. She went and told the man of God, and he said, ‘Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.’ 2 Kings 4:1-7

Who did the woman cry out to and why?

What did Elisha tell her to do?

How many jars did Elisha tell her to get?

What happened when the woman asked her son for another jar?

‘On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.’ John 7:37-39

The greatest need in society today is for people to be filled and renewed spiritually. If people want a new beginning then Jesus offers to fill our lives with His Spirit. The question is, how full do you want to be spiritually speaking?

In the story of the woman and Elisha, notice that when all the jars were filled, the oil stopped pouring, 2 Kings 4:6, if she had collected more jars, then the oil would have kept on pouring, but she set the limit herself by only getting a few jars, Elisha told her to go to her neighbour and ask for empty jars but, ‘don’t ask for just a few.’ 2 Kings 4:3.

In what ways do we set the limit in our lives for what God can do for us?

How much water does Jesus promise will flow within us?

Do we ever get content with just a stream of living water, when God offers us rivers of living water?

The jars were empty and an empty jar is no good to anyone, they are designed to contain something in them.

What kind of things do people fill their lives with today?

Why do some people fill their lives with alcohol, drugs, work, money, etc?

What happens when Christians try to make it through life alone?

What happens when Christians try to shape their own lives?

‘My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.’ Jeremiah 2:13

What do you think Jeremiah is saying here?

The river Mersey is around 70 miles long, but how much water is in the River Mersey?

How much water do many rivers contain?

God is so generous with His Spirit, but how do we allow Him to fill our lives with His Spirit?

‘Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.’ 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

What do you think Paul is trying to teach us here?

‘Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.’ Romans 12:2

What do you think Paul is trying to teach us here?

A Christian was once asked by an atheist, ‘aren’t all Christians brainwashed?’ To which the Christian replied, ‘yes, we just choose who washed our brains.’

God is so generous with His Spirit, but what is The Holy Spirit trying to do with our lives?

‘Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.’ 2 Corinthians 3:17-18

What do you think Paul is trying to teach us here?

God is so generous with His Spirit but, what difference does it make when we allow the Spirit to flow and fill our lives?

‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.’ Galatians 5:22-23

When the Holy Spirit lows and fills our lives, we will bear His fruit and become more like Christ. We are all pots which need to be filled with something, the question is, Who or what will we allow to flow through our lives and fill our lives?