Session 5 | Jeremiah 18:1-12

REMADE (JER. 18:1-4)

READ:

Invite a volunteer to read Jeremiah 18:1-4,

unusual instructions God gave His prophet.

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
2 “Go down at once to the potter’s house;
there I will reveal my words to you.”

3 So I went down to the potter’s house,
and there he was, working away at the wheel.

4 But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed
in the potter’s hand, so he made it into another jar,
as it seemed right for him to do.

DISCUS:

verse 1.
Note that these words are repeated throughout the book of Jeremiah,
reminding his audience that God was the ultimate source of His messages.

DISCUSS:

Jeremiah received a message from God as he watched a potter at work.

Recall a time when God revealed His truth to you in the normal routines of life.

HIGHLIGHT:

explain to the group how God often directed His prophets
to use a variety of object lessons or dramatic displays to convey His messages.

Explain:

While today’s passage is not technically an enacted prophecy,
it has some of the same characteristics.

reflect on how God used the potter and his work as a metaphor to share His message.

HIGHLIGHT:

Emphasize that Jeremiah’s audience would have been extremely familiar with a potter’s work,
so God was using something very ordinary
to convey a powerful message about how He was working in the lives of His people.

DISCUSS:

• How is clay in a potter’s hand like God’s people being in God’s hands?
• How does the image of God as a potter give you hope? (p. 47)

Say:

where God is at work, the end result will always bring Him glory.

DISCUSS:

• In what ways have you seen God take brokenness and shape it into something beautiful? (p. 47)

TRANSITION:

God used the picture of the potter working the clay
to show Jeremiah how He was working
to shape His people for His plans and purposes.
He was (and still is) in complete control of our lives.