Pastor Scott Hogle
May 16, 2021 - W2120

In Search of the Potter’s Wheel

7 Divine Appointments in Your Place of Assignment

Pastor Scott Hogle

May 15 & 16, 2021

[Video]

We went to the potter’s house today and found him working in his shop. As the clay spun in the wheel, his hands became intertwined with his creation.  The jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped because the clay was unsuitable for his design, so he crushed it back into a lump and started over.

What the potter makes depends on the quality and purity of the clay. If the clay is dry and hard, it's difficult to shape and form.  As I stood there watching the potter work, God spoke to me and said, “Can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? Can I not mold and shape you into the design that I want? As the clay is in his hands, so are you in My hands.”

As I thought about what God said, I realized that to truly become the masterpiece God intended, I must cooperate and let Him mold me into His design. In leaving the potter’s house, I prayed: "Lord, you are the potter.  I am the clay. I am the work of your hands--have your way in me!" 

[End Video]

PASTOR SCOTT HOGLE: Welcome and Aloha, New Hope Oahu!  We are so glad that you chose to worship with us today.  The topic of our message is, "In Search of the Potter’s Wheel, Seven Divine Appointments in Your Place of Assignment." We’ll ask God seven questions that pertain to the intersection of the place and the purpose that He has for us.  

When you're in the place where you belong, you can feel it; and when you're in a place you don't belong, you can feel that, too. You could also be in the right place at the right time and still miss God!  For instance, we could entertain angels unaware; and, when two disciples were walking on the road to Emmaus with Jesus, they didn't recognize Him! We need God to open our eyes.

I created a place where God and I meet every morning, where I do my devotions--a place of intimacy. On my home office door is a plaque with Proverbs 8:17:  "I love those who love me, and those who seek me early shall find me."  It's a place just for me and the Lord! If you want to receive everything God has for you, you must be In Your Place of Assignment--a place you belong, because there is a place you don’t belong!

Years ago, I had a job offer that would dramatically increase my salary. I thought it was God’s will for my life and said, "Thank you, Lord." But, because I couldn’t differentiate between God’s will for me and my own desires, I asked someone to lay hands on me and pray for me. This became a place of letting go as the Lord spoke to my heart, "Walk slowly away from that door of opportunity.  It’s not right for you."  (God can see what's around the corner and we can’t!) I was depressed for a month!  

There’s also a place of discovery when you’re confused and not quite getting it, wondering what to do next and suddenly, you have an “aha” moment--a place of destiny!  Some of you moved to Hawaii because you felt called to New Hope; some of you left Hawaii because Jesus said, "Go over there."  The two letters that start the word “gospel” are g-o.   

Jesus also learned that there is a place where you have favor; and a place you don’t have favor.  He ministered in Nazareth but was not successful because the people didn’t honor him; so, He left Nazareth and went to Capernaum--where his ministry flourished!  Go where you’re celebrated, not where you are just tolerated!  

Pastor Wayne Cordeiro says that New Hope was not meant to be a cruise ship, but a battleship! We are strategically and spiritually positioned in the South Pacific and have an incredible assignment to raise leaders for multiplication by planting new churches.  

Several years ago, God called Pastor Wayne to leave a successful church in Hilo and go to Honolulu to start a church on Oahu. What he didn’t know was that God didn't want to just start a church--He wanted to start a movement!  The place God wants you is an anointed place--a place of multiplication!  He knows where the multiplication is in your life, but we must be able to discern that place. There will be times when God will reposition you to increase, promote, and advance you; but, first, He remolds you, and you must be willing to go there to meet Him.   

1. Place of Instruction

God wanted to teach Jeremiah something, so he tells him to go to the potter’s house and watch the potter at work.  

Jeremiah 18:2-6 NLT: "He said, ² “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.” ³ So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. ⁴ But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over. ⁵ Then the Lord said, ⁶ “...can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand." 

There was a time when I was battling cancer and struggling to walk.  I wanted to get healed but God wanted more for me.  I was watching a preacher on TV, talking about a healing conference and God said, "I want you to go to this conference," but I didn't want to go, but we went.  By the time we came back to Hawaii after the conference, I'm still waiting.  But, again, God wanted more for me than I wanted for myself.  My healing came months later in Hawaii when God supernaturally moved and instructed me.  I met new friends and became a part of a worldwide ministry--and God’s purposes expanded in our lives.

2. A Place of Stepping Out in Faith 

Joshua 3:15-16 NIV says: "¹⁵ Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, ¹⁶ the water from upstream stopped flowing."

There’s a place where you never graduate because once you get to that level, God takes you into deeper waters and higher ground!  It seems that the first thing we do when we get in deep is, "O God, please save me!"  But God is trying to teach us to walk on water! The children of Israel were about to cross the Jordan River at flood stage and, unlike crossing the Red Sea on dry land, God did not part the Jordan River--they had to step into the water then the waters parted!

Is there a step that God is waiting for you to take?  Miracles don’t unfold until you start walking. God doesn’t do everything--there’s a part that we must play in the miracle.  When we take that step, God takes you into deeper waters and higher ground!

3. A Place of Provision

1 Kings 17:3 NASB says: " Go away from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith...I have commanded the ravens to provide food for you there.”

The place of fruitfulness and favor in your life is wherever God wants you to be. Sometimes God tells you to go there, but you’re not willing to move.  Is God asking you to move there so He can reposition you to receive from Him? The Holy Spirit is given to us for service and multiplication; but multiplication only happens when we start serving the Lord!  God sent the prophet Samuel to Jesse's house to anoint the next king of Israel; Samuel goes through all the sons of Jesse, but God did not choose any of them. As an afterthought, Jesse brought in David, and God said, "He is the one!" Yet, David spent a few more years in the pastureland in isolation, before he faced Goliath.  Do you feel that you’re in a season of obscurity trying to discern the voice of the Lord?  Why did God continue to have David in the pastureland?  It's...

4. A Place of Training for The Next Season

The pastureland was a training ground for David to practice and learn to work with the Holy Spirit--to test his limits and find God’s limits.  In that season, he rescued a sheep from a lion and a bear. What is God doing in this training season for you?  What opportunity has He given you?  Your wilderness is where God is training you.  When God calls a man or a woman, He will separate them from everyone else:  He did it with David; the apostle Paul was led into the desert of Arabia; and Moses spent 40 years in a desert as he wasn't quite ready to rule Israel. Where is your place of training that God is readying you for the next season?

5. A Place of Submission

The potter’s wheel is the place of submission where God puts you under authority. He’ll often ask you to serve and submit to people you don’t like because He’s working His character into your clay and kneads the difficulties in your life so He can instill His will on you. There is a difference between heart service and lip service.  You can tell when someone obeys grudgingly or with a good heart.  Who is God asking you to submit to?

6. A Place of Thanksgiving

Have you ever wondered why we clap so much at New Hope?  It's to honor and give thanks for the gift that God has gifted someone to bless us.  When you honor, appreciate, and give thanks, it creates an atmosphere for God to work. We are saying, "Thank you, God, for giving the worship team that gift and ushering us into Your presence."  It’s a place of thanksgiving!

Joshua 4:5-7 NIV says: "Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each tribe is to take up a stone on his shoulder...  ⁶ to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ ⁷ tell them These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” 

In Joshua 4, God is teaching about standing stones.  One leader from each of the 12 tribes would pick up a stone from the middle of the Jordan and carry it on their shoulder and stand them up one after the other. When future generations would ask what the stones meant, they be told the miracles of God! The standing stones in your life are places of thanksgiving that become memorials in your life when God did something for you. When you give thanks to God, you’re creating an atmosphere of honor--and anything is possible! 

7. A Place of Your Presence  

I started this message by saying that our goal was to help you discern the place that you're in so you can intersect God's purposes and receive all that He has for you.  If you don't understand the way of the Lord, not only will you not intersect it; you can miss it!  

Genesis 28:11-12, 16, 19 NASB says: "¹¹ And he happened upon a particular place and spent the night there, ...¹² And he had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “The Lord is certainly in this place, and I did not know it!” ¹⁹ Then he named that place Bethel." 

When you come to church, you don’t come here to grow; you come here to receive.  You do the growing on your own!

STUDY QUESTIONS:

1.   What is something that God is putting on your heart to change?
2.   What is your pastureland right now?
3.   Do you have a need that you are still waiting an answer on?
4.   Share a standing stone memorial that God has given you.