A New Beginning

Pastor Chang Kim

Jeremiah 18:1-6

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 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.

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6 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.  

Introduction: Have you ever wished you could go back and start over? 

Think back to 2024, do you have any regrets? 

So, what do we need today, the 5th day of 2025? 

It is this shaping and bringing out in the year 2025 our highest spiritual possibilities that God, our Potter, wants to do for you. God has a plan, He has a purpose for each one of us. 

Louisa Fletcher Tarkington writes in her poem “The Land of Beginning again”

“Many wish that there were some wonderful place, called the Land of Beginning Again, where all our mistakes and all our heartaches and all our poor selfish griefs could be dropped, like a shabby old coat-- never put on again.”

I.          The Time to Start is Now

Here are the 5 most common New Year’s resolutions.

1. Exercise more 2. Improve finances 3. Improve mental health 4. Lose weight 5. Eat healthier

2 Corinthians 6:1-2 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

“I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”

God simply tells us: Give Me your clay. 

I’ll bring treasures out of trash

I’ll bring jewels out of junk

I’ll bring glory out of garbage

I’ll bring riches out of rubbish

I’ll bring diamonds out of debris

I’ll bring righteousness of a rift raft

I’ll bring worship out of waste

I’ll bring majesty out of mess

I’ll bring deliverance to the dying

I’ll bring praise out of people

Moses was a liberator, Daniel a prayer warrior, Zaccheus a disciple, Paul a preacher, Mary Magdalene a faithful housekeeper, woman at the well, an evangelist.

All God needs is your clay. The only prerequisite is that we give Him our clay, that we give Him our life.