Sermon Tone Analysis

*/How Far Will God Go/*

*/To Change Me?/*

 Isaiah 64:1-9

 March 25, 2002

 

 

 

\\ * In the imagery we are reminded of the power and determination of God and of our ultimate inability to ________ ___ against Him.

* In a few, short statements, the ancient prophet put to rest any ideas that there are * *_________-________ men or women.

* Only when I am __________ by God will my life be what it was meant to be.

Isaiah 64:1-9; Jeremiah 18:2-6

* *

*1.  ** He Will Show Us How Desperately We _________ _______  in Our Lives*

*/(Isaiah 64:1-3 NIV)  "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! {2} As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! {3} For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.

/*

 

v   One of the most important places to ever be in life, is in a state of ______________.

v   Until I reach a point of desperation, I am still living in a state of ________-_______________.

* *

*2.     **God Will Show Us How Desperately He Wants to __________ Us*

*/(Isaiah 64:4-5a NIV) {4} "Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

{5} You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways."

/*

/ /

v   God specifically works on behalf of people who don't _______

__________ of God, but patiently trust Him.

v   God takes a special interest in people who will do the _________ _________ in life.

v   God says He will actively oppose us if we insist on living life according to our own set of _________ and our own ________.

*/(Jeremiah 18:11-12 NIV)  ""Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, 'This is what the LORD says: Look!

I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you.

So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.' {12} But they will reply, 'It's no use.

We will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.'"/*

*/ /*

*3.

God Will _________ From Us In Order to Show  *

*     Us What Our Sin Will Do To Us*

*/(Isaiah 64:5b-7 NIV) "But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry.

How then can we be saved?

{6} All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

{7} No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins."

/*

 

*/(Isaiah 29:15-16 NIV)  "Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, "Who sees us?

Who will know?"

{16} You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!

Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, "He did not make me"?

Can the pot say of the potter, "He knows nothing"?"/*

* This is the height of _______________!

For us to turn the table on God and think we (who are the clay) can start to form God into the image we want Him to be!

  

*4.

If Invited, God Will Get His Hands __________ of *

*     Us So We Can Be Changed*

*/(Isaiah 64:8-9 NIV) {8} "Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.

We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

{9} Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD; do not remember our sins forever.

Oh, look upon us, we pray, for we are all your people."/*

*/ /*

·         */We appeal to God on the basis of ____ ___  is -- our Father./*

·         */We pray from our position -- we are His _____________./*

·         */We can ask because of God's ___________ -- that God would dare to forgive people who don't deserve it -- that God who has every reason to be angry will instead reach out to us, love us, and forgive us/*

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*  **PRINCIPLE:**  /God is the Potter, shaping our lives.

His  /*

*  /__________ & __________ are absolute./*

* *

*  **PURPOSE:**  /For our good -- but only God, the Potter, knows   /*

*  /exactly what His ____________ are.

The Potter knows what  /*

*/  He's making.

The clay's role is to respond to the Potter's   /*

*/  touch./*

* *

*  **PERSON:**  The Potter.

What is He like?

Jesus said, "If you  *

*  have seen me, you have seen the Father."

If you are serious *

*  about knowing God, invite His Son Jesus to take over control *

*  of your life.*

*/ /*

*/ /*

/"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."/

/(Jeremiah 18:4 NIV)/