Remaining Soft for Revival | Elder Dr Jill

You're listening to a passage to go from ex Church.

We hope this message will light up your day. So

now we shall get into the word that God has

for us. And this is this is a word that

I have been preaching for this season, this past one month,

perhaps in different different services, and I still believe God

wants to.

Speak to us from this word.

Yeah, okay, Let's show the next slide, the one on.

The the themes.

Yeah, okay, cool, So just a recap pasta Kennev has

downloaded from God our ex Church direction, our themes for

the next five years, and they are summarized in this

acronym called dream D R E A M. Okay, okay,

We'll show the next slide. So each of us, each

of it stands for so D stands for discipleship, which

was our theme for last year.

So we were talking and working a lot on.

Discipleship, either being discipled if you're not disciples yet, or

discipling someone if we don't have someone yet, right and

growing in that journey. And this year, what is our

theme for ex Church Revival? Yes, okay, So I'm going

to talk about that a little bit more and the

next year the theme will be evangelism. Yeah, and the

following year action and then twenty twenty nine missions. Okay,

so is yere before we can actually go out and

do stuff and reach people. Is very important to deepen

our roots. So discipleship and revival is like a plan

that is deepening its roots before you can see any

action above the ground. And evangelism, action and missions is

when the plant starts growing, it starts bearing flowers and fruits. Okay,

so we're still deepening our roots this year.

Be patient.

Okay, sometimes you wonder, ay, how can I don't see

anything happening?

But be patient. God is deepening your roots. Yeah. I

mean like Pasta, Steven and Cellway have to be patient.

You who, no, who my baby look like? A ah?

How cute or how handsome or how pretty? Will my

baby be here?

Uh?

Then but then they have to be patient because God

is working on the inside. When it's time to give birth,

then you will see, Okay, by the way, you're expecting

baby boy okay, how handsome?

Ah?

Or baby boy be a man? Okay?

Who?

All right?

Okay, we'll move on to the next slide. Okay, so

how many of you here?

You you've.

Not not for three, yet you have actually seen a

diamond in person.

Cannot afford? Okay, save up?

Okay, because when you propose, usually it's true a diamond

ringler now mind, still got time, still got timer? Oh

no okay, no fresh as no fresh just but but right,

that seems to be the social norm, right proposal, Usually

it's true a diamond ring, says the merrit ones here,

my diamond ring is at home. Doesn't have to be big, glad,

just the small ya go easier? Yeah, just just a token,

can ready?

Hoy? Yeah?

So you know diamonds, right, they're beautiful because they are

they have many fests. They are cut in such a

way that they have many many sides and angles, and

the light shines through them and disperses through them beautifully.

That's why they're glistening. Okay. So even with revival.

There are many angles, many facets that we can take

on it. So today I'm gonna add on one more angle.

Every every Sunday you hear different speakers, they will add

on different angles, and you get the diamond of revival

in your life. Amen, the blink blink of revival.

Okay. Cool.

So the angle today that I'm gonna talk on is

remaining soft for revival and soft it's not a very

popular word in the world. No one wants to be

known as a soft tea. Right, Yeah, I mean, the

world's ways are very different and God's ways are very different.

Right.

The world says, you know, take, take, take, and you

have more. But God says, give, give, gift and you

have more. The world says, come on, you must be

on the top, then only you have it all. But

God says, no, you'll be at the bottom and surf

then you have it all. So God's ways are very different.

The world says you've got to be tough rough, yeah,

But then God says, you've got to be soft before me.

So I'm going to teach you a higher and better economy,

which is God's kingdom economy. And so revival. We cannot

be hard towards revival. We cannot be hard towards God

in order to receive revival. In order to receive revival,

we actually need to remain soft before him.

Yeah.

God doesn't come and revive the strongest man. God comes

to revive the softest man. So would you and I

be the softest man or woman before God's eyes that

it will attract him to come and revive our lives. Strength,

I tell you it doesn't attract God. In fact, our

own strength that turns God away. Our weakness, our softness,

our openness and humility really attracts God.

Yeah. Okay, So let's move on to the next light.

We are also going to be reading from the Book

of Jeremiah, and I read this some time ago.

Okay.

Let's tten to Jeremiah chapter eighteen, verse one to twelve,

and it's the story of the potter and the clay.

Oo la la. Anybody here you've done pottery?

Yes, and you raise your hands if you've done pottery here,

just raise your hands.

Okay, Okay, I see a feel very cool? All right?

Yeah me too, Jaddy, not Jaddy, not your Judy. Very

good for you? Is weally laugh?

She got excellent spirit mine at first start, Jody. Then

second chance, Juddy, the rest of you who did pot three?

How did your did it turn out?

Okay? I love the honesty? Mine also was like yours?

Like that?

Yeah? How about you rather, Juddy? Okay?

Now my two to to Jeddy two okay, second chance Jeddy?

All right, cool okay.

Jeremiah Chapter twelve, eighteen, verse one to twelve. Okay, so

what I'm gonna do is read the whole portion first,

and then we're gonna rewind and unpack certain key parts. Okay,

all right, So the word that came to Jeremiah from

the house from the Lord sorry verse two, Arise and

go down to the Potter's house and there I will

let you hear my words.

Verse three.

So so I went down to the potter's house and

there he was working at his wheel. I'm just gonna

pause you a little while. Yeah, okaka, no Worri is

my slight actually has the scripture? You can also show

my slights. Then you don't have to flip to and fro. Now,

I just want to pause here for a while. In

a while, we will read that the potter is actually

God and the clay is actually us, You and I

and God actually told Jeremiah to go to the potter's

house because you know, there God will speak to him.

So it reminds us that it's so important to come

to the house of God because God.

Will speak to us here.

It's important that we do our quiet time, and God

speaks personally. But God also wants to speak to his

church in a unified way, and so don't stop being

a part of God's House, Sundays homes prayer service and

any other time you can come together. Don't stop because

God has a special word for you. Yeah, you know,

I'm going to segree a little bit. Number of years ago,

we had a family that came from Eastern Europe to

be in cyber for perhaps two years.

And they are very.

How the same in tune in the spirit with what

God is doing. They catch visions from God a lot,

and so this this couple told us one day they

were with us in ex Cyberjaya. They said, during the service,

they actually caught a vision of angels of God carrying

envelopes and there was a message in each envelope. And

what the angels were doing during service is the Angel

was actually going set by seed, by seed by sid

to put one envelope person seed.

And whoever who turn up in church.

That day, and said that that seed would actually take

up that message from God through his angel. But if

that person did not show up in church that day,

the envelope was left on the seat. And that really

impacted me because I can believe so that God would

use his servants angels to bring us personal message, and

so it's important to show up in the house of God.

Don't don't let discomfort.

Or excuse us stop you from showing up in God's house,

because God has a unique word for each one of us.

I can be sharing this to you today, but you're

gonna catch it in different angles how God wants.

You to catch it.

Because if you look at the diamond from here, you're

going to see something different than someone who looks from

it this way.

Okay.

So I just wanted to share with you the true story. Okay,

now we move the next light. Jeremiah chapter eighteen, verse four.

And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled

in the potter's hands, and he reworked it into another vessel,

as it seemed good to the potter to do.

Verse five.

Then the word of the Lord came to me verse six. O,

house of Israel, can I not do with you as

this potter has done?

Declares the Lord.

Behold like the clay in the potter's hand, So are

you in my hand or house of Israel?

Oh?

Examine come on verse seven. If at any time I

declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will

pluck up and break down and destroy it. And if

that nation concerning which I have spoken turns from his evil,

I will relent of the disaster that I intended to

do to it verse nine. And if at any time

I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I

will built and planted, and if it does evil in

my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will

relent of the good that I had intended to do

it verse eleven. Now, therefore, say to the men of

Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord. Behold,

I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan

against you. Return everyone from his evil way, and a

man your ways and your deeds verse twelve. But they

say that is in vain. We will follow our own plans,

and will everyone act according to the stubbornness of his

evil heart. Okay, Wow, speaking to us already. Okay, So

I'm gonna okay, we move on to the next slide.

I'm gonna zoom into Jeremiah chapter eighteen, verse five to six.

So I've circled the part you are in my hand. Yeah,

because this is what God says that we are in

his hands. Okay, we're going to the next slide. So

from this verse we can learn that God is the

potter and we are the clay.

Our lives are in his hands.

This sounds so elementary and simple, doesn't it. But how

many of us really live this out? Are we many

times the potter in our lives and God is our clay?

God, you must do this for me God. If not?

If notna, honestly, sometimes are we the potter and God

is the clay? We cannot twist God's God, I serve

you so much. You know you must bless me my exams. Ah, Lord,

I pray, I pray so much. God, you must give

me the bonus. God, I wait so long, I do

you turn for ten years? Already you must give me

my life partner.

Oh?

Hey, who is the butter and who is the clay?

Now? Ah? Real?

Oh?

Sometimes are other people? Our potters is our university. Our

potter is our boss. Our potter is our husband or wife, our.

Potters our children, our potter.

Okay, good, hard check. So God is our potter?

You know?

Yesterday in our Saturday ex leadership training assault, we went

to the leaders check list and leaders. You'll know the

first topic is putting God first. It's got our potter?

Do we factor his house? Do we factor what he

says in? When we plan our calendars, when we plan

when to ballet?

Compone went to.

Wow, when we plan our budgeting, when we plan who

to marry, where to move to, where to buy a house?

How many children do have? Do we change jobs which

you need to do master's PhD In Do we factor

got in or is it just our own plans?

Yeah?

So yeah, who is the potter in your life? And

who is the clay?

Imen? Right, we move on to the next point.

Okay, Jeremiah eighteen, verse four, I want to highlight that

the clay was spoiled. Spoiled, okay, uh, and let's see

what sport actually means in this context. So this is

a picture of a clay that is being worked on

on the spinning wheel, but it suddenly just collapsed. Can

you see it suddenly just yeah, collapse. So this is

a picture of spoiled clay. No matter how the potter

tries to build it up, it just keeps collapsing on

his own. It's not like the butter smashed it. The

clay sundiary collapse, collapse on his own, and this might

be how some of us here may be feeling like

or looking like right now. Case Spoil could be corrupted.

So if there is impurities in our life, you know

we you know, their thoughts, their feelings, their actions and

decisions that are not right to God. That is existing

in our lives. That makes us impure, and some of

us can be like their spoiled clay.

Yeah, okay, injured.

Maybe some of us maybe may have been hurt by

the actions of other people in our lives, traumatized by

you know, some people's actions.

Some of us may.

Feel like that injured, rotten normally rotten, normally got smell

one right ah, sometimes got flies, sometimes got meg goods. Yeah.

Maybe there is something stinking in our life because we

left it too long, some issue that is undealt with

we leave it too long, not don't treat it.

Don't deal with it.

It's gonna stink, Yeah, some way or another m or destroyed.

The worst case scenario for appearing SPOT is like we

just destroyed beyond saving already. Maybe some of us we've

gone through different things in life and we feel there's

no U turn there's no redemption. I'm a goner. Yeah,

but I'm here to say that no matter what we feel.

We may feel impure, we may feel hurt, we may

feel like all our lives things, we may feel like

we're a goner. But what is the hope of the

world of God. Let's go to the next light. God

is able to rework. That's spot place, say rework, and

that's revival. Say revival. So this is a year for

God to rework your lives. I don't know how many

of you need to hear this. God has a time,

you know.

God.

God works with time. I mean if we as humans

can work with time, God also works with times and seasons.

In fact, time and seasons come from God. Our human

earthly time is called the chronos time. Stop stop supp

four seconds have passed already in our chronals time. Okay,

But God lives beyond our chronos time. He lives by

his chiros time. Chiros means his appointed timing. So this

year is God's appointed time for you and I to

have things that may have been spoiled in our lives

reworked by God. And this may not be God's appointed

time for us. Every year, the theme for the house.

This year is revival, So God wants to revive our

lives in areas that it needs revival. Next year, God's focused,

the spotlight is going to shift on something else. God's

going to send us out into the world to reach

more people. And if you're gonna wait until next year

for God to rework us, that may not be He's

timing for us. So you've got to catch the wave.

I don't know how many of you you've tried surfing.

I'm not, but I've watched people who try, and it's

actually quite funny. Yeah, when they tried to catch the wave. Right,

as a surfer, you've got to catch the wave. You

catch the wave, you were right on top of it.

If you're caught by the wave, you are right below

the wave. So God's timing is like waves. And right

now the wave of revival being reworked in our lives

is flowing. Are you going to ride that wave and say, God,

don't miss me rework in my life whatever that needs

to be reworked.

Yeah, okay, all right, so let's move on to.

The next slide. Yes, yeah, because God is good, that's

why he wants to rework us. I don't know how

many of you you are crafts you love to create craft,

some kind of craft. I see hands pointing. How many

of you you like to do things with your hands

and create something beautiful with your hands? Just just give

me a wave, give me a wave. Yeah, oh quite

a lot?

Wow?

Wow you guys? Also okay, all right? Yes, you know

God is the master crafter. Imagine if he made us,

which he did, Adam and Eve his first craft and

they totally failed right by having seen in their lives

as crafter. Sometimes we are so tempted to throw away

that spoiled craft and start all over again. But I'm

glad God didn't do that with us. That's why you

and I are still around, Because we are spoiled in

so many ways, but God didn't throw us away. Thank you,

Lauren as So we're still around, Amen, because God is

good and able to revive us. Amen, yesterday right. The

leaders checklist also talks about giving people second chances underreaching

the one. Thank God, God, yeah didn't destroy us and

gave us a second chance. Okay, let's move on now,

remaining soft for revival. So I tried to study what

makes a piece of clay remains soft on the potter's wheel.

And I found two key factors. There could be more,

but these are the two basic ones. The first factor

for a piece of clay to remain soft on the

potter's wheel is water. Everyone saying water, water, water, Okay?

What what?

Okay? Water? Okay? And we know from the Word of God.

Next light, that the Word of God itself is the

water of God. Amen, Richie, yeah, Emphiesian's five twenty six.

All right, washing off the water with the word. So

the Word of God is the water of God. Have

you been thirsty in your life? Have you been dry

in your life? Have you been refilling yourself with the

Word of God. That's something that you need to do

to stay fresh in your life. Okay, Amen, let's move on. Okay,

next slide. So water and clay in the next slide, Okay,

Water and clay does three things for the clay.

Okay.

The first thing that it does for the clay is

it purifies the clay. Water purifies the clay.

Okay. So, clay actually.

In the natural it is embedded with other kinds of soil, stones,

and sand in the wild. So when people dig that

whole piece of clay mixed with other stuff out How

do they separate out the clay to be used to

make pottery and throw away the other stuff, the stones,

the sand, the other soal that's not relevant. They need

water to actually separate out the clay and the other impurities.

And can I just show us a quick video on

how it's done. So there's the whole bump of soil

with the clay in it.

The guy has water. Looks like datari escape my low

h m hm oh really look at the buoy.

Wait, oh, I got the your mixers of all thet

after this you go for dataria. Okay, then I've got

some of h if you follow the timing. I see

after he mixed the water with that whole mixture, he

paused through.

A sieve a fine seed.

And only the clay and water goes through the sand.

The stone and other kinds of soil get trapped in

the sea.

It's pure clay, although it's very watery, and it's going

to take a while now that we've added the water

to get it out of there to the point that

we can actually make something out of trying.

Okay, posphors posts postfors. Okay, we'll show this video later.

So don't think clay is so easy to take from

the will We actually need water to stick to the

clay and bring it through the sea. And even after that,

after this state tarring. Make sure that you see, they

have to live it for a few days, so the

water and the clay will separate, The clay will sink

to the bottom, the water will rise to the top.

Then they will pour away the water and take the

clay sediment and then work with it. So the word

of God purifies us. That's why we need the word

of God in our lives. The word of God will

tell us what to do, you know, how to treat

other people?

Yeah, in the right way.

Right. The word of God will have so many examples

to teach us. It purifies us. Okay, what else does

the word of God do? It makes us pliable. Do

you all know what the word pliable means?

Can ben? Okay? Good? How many of you you have played.

Plaster scene before when you're young? How many of you

have played Plato when you're young?

Okay?

So what is the difference between the average plaster scene

and Plato? Yeah, the average plus sine drives up faster,

and it's also harder to mow right, playto is nice

and soft. Yes, so Plato is more pliable. It's easier

to you to shape and to more pliable means that soft,

easy to shape and more. Okay, so the word of

God makes us pliable. If we don't have God's word,

we will be very resistant to change. But if we

have God's word in our lives, then we say, okay, God,

because You're word, say so I'm willing to change.

But we know that God's word. We'll say, who says

I have to change?

I am my own word, but we've got sword. We're

like God, okay, you this is your word. I will

follow and I will change. So I want to show

a video of how water helped a piece of clay

to be pliable. We'll show that next video, the one

on the Potter review. That's us split. See how much

water the Potter has to use collapse.

So I've got some quite a player this time, so

that might benefit it a bit of stability.

What is he going to make? I wonder castle and

water man good Bore maybe oh Richer?

Yeah, okay, we paused their first so yes, the video Actually,

this is a six minute video and this guy is

not making a ball. He's not even making your average

vast but he's making a Korean inspired vase. So the

end product is is it will look like a round

ball with a little hole on top. There's a Korean

inspired vase. It takes six minutes to make it, and

in that six minutes he will make the thing tall, short, tall, short, white, narrow, white, narrow.

Only in the last minute you see it taking form.

But throughout the whole time he's putting in a lot

of water. In a few seconds there, you really saw

how much water he put in, right, probably more water

than we used to wash.

Our face, right, a lot of water.

We need a lot of God's work in our lives

to keep us soft before him. If you find yourself

being hard before God, being resistant to what he wants

to do, are you having enough of His word in

your life? That is my encouragement and challenge to us, right, okay,

because you know what, Like I said, right now, after

the first minute, the clay looks like this, but after

the sixth minute it will be a nice verse. We

are all still working progress. And until God is done

with us, we still need his word every step of

the way. And I believe once he's done with us,

it's time to meet him.

Amen.

All right, then we will be constantly surrounded by his word. Amen. Okay,

let's see the next third thing that water and clay does.

It puts life back into us. It revives say revive. Yeah,

I'm going to show you a piece of harden and

dried out clay. What happens to it with water?

The original clay bag had a hole in it, So

I find a new, strong, plastic bag and she plays

right out of water. I fill a large bucket with water,

and then the bag of clay is lowered into the bucket.

The pressure of the water in the bucket ensures that

the water in the bag will spread out over the

whole surface of the clay, rather than sitting in a

pool at the bottom of the bag, making the clay

at the bottom soggy and leaving the top half dry.

I squeeze the air out of the bag and clip

it again. The clay is left in the bucket for

a week. After about seven days, I left the clay

out of the bucket and checked to see if it's workable.

This clay will still need to be wedged, but now

it should be nice.

Ah.

Okay, you see now it can actually be bent. The

first time she took it out is the song is

really like this. There was a song in the video

rock hatp but now with water after a week, water

in the backwater out of the bag again. It's so

much of the world of God. It becomes soft, implaiable.

All right, So be encouraged, continue to be faithful in

real pursuing the word of God in your own quiet

time and even in the house of God. Amen, because

that's gonna make us soft for the so much more

that God wants to do revival, all right.

Okay.

Now the other factor okay, so we see the next slide.

This is some reason God and Earth.

He purifies us, His word purifies us, his word makes

us pliable, and his word puts life back in us.

Okay.

So I hope that we are encouraged and inspired to

keep pursuing the word of God.

Okay.

The other factor that keeps clay soft is this thing

called next light breaking memory.

Breaking memory.

So apparently every piece of clay actually has an internal

memory his own rem ah.

Yes. So for example, if this is a piece.

Of clay that I bought from Shoppy, I just took

it out of the plastic bag from the box.

It comes out like this.

This is and yeah, this is the memory of the

clay because it has been in that box shape like

this for the past six months for waiting for someone

like me to buy it off. Shoppy and I could

try and work with the clay, but there might be

a risk that if this clay's memory of this shape

doesn't break, even on the potter's wheel, my clay will

fall flat because my clay is always trying to go

back to how it used to look in the box

on the shelf for six months.

And isn't that like.

Us, We all come with a certain set of memories

from our past. And if we don't allow God to

break our memory of the past, sometimes not that we

want to, but we can't help it, we keep falling

back to who we were in the past. And that's

going to also hinder revival. Okay, that's gonna make us

hard before God for his revival. Okay, So what does

the word of God say? Let's go to the next slight.

Jeremiah chapter seventeen, verse fourteen says heal me, o Lord,

and I shall be healed, Save me and I shall

be saved, for you are my praise. Only God can

fully heal us from our past. We can go for therapy,

we can take all the medications we want, we can

adopt all the healthy lifestyles that we want. We can

move somewhere really far away and have a whole new

environment all we want.

But honestly, only.

God is able to the key word is fully, wholly

heal us of our past.

So again, I don't know who needs to hear this today.

But if you want to make room for God's revival

in your life, you've got to let go of the past.

There's not enough room for both in the house of

your life. You've got to start decluttering. Is there anything

that you're holding on from the past. Many times it's

maybe from our childhood, you know, or even growing up. Yeah,

unpleasant experiences. The Lord is able to heal you and

help you declutter. Send it out to the garbage man

and the recycling center, and make room for new things

revival in your life.

Amen, a man.

Let's go on to joke Chapter eleven, verse sixteen. God

says you will forget your misery. You will remember it

as waters that have passed away. You know, like how

when you're at the beach, the waves come up and

then they pull back, and it comes up and it

pulls back.

That's how God.

Will make your misery, your hurt of the past be

like if you allow him to, he can actually really

heal you and make you forget even of the pain

of the past.

Amen.

And then the next slide, Isaiah for the tree verse

eighteen to nineteen. Remember not the former things, things that

make you really unhappy, not consider the things of all. Behold,

I am doing a new thing. God wants to pour

new wine. Wine symbolizes joy, actually happiness. God wants to

pull off off new wine into our lives. But we've

got to be the new wine skin.

Amen. Amen. All right.

So the closing slide and perhaps extreme you can come

up already we're gonna close. So knowing that the word

of God makes us ready for revival keeps us soft

for revival. Knowing that we need to let go of

the things of the past makes us soft and ready

for revival. What will our choice be for today? What

will our choice be for today? Will we choose to

pursue more of God's word in our lives? Will we

choose to let God heal us and set us free

from the pain of the past, or what we choose

to remain just like that subburn piece of clay. Right,

we always have a choice because we see in Jeremiah

chapter eighteen, in the next light, God already says, I

am shaping disaster against you. This was to the children

of Israel. But God says, turn, turn away, return from

your evil ways. You know, when we say evil, we

always think of like bad people, right, We think like, oh,

an evil person is someone who lies a lot, who

steals a lot and.

Kills a lot.

But then there is the world's definition. God's definition of

evil is more than just the bad actions that we do.

God's definition of evil is when we don't follow his way.

When we don't follow God's way, we are considered evil already.

So I can honestly tell you I've been evil in

my life. I have not killed anyone, I have not

stolen anything, I have told lies before, but I've been

evil because there were times where I did not listen

to what God wanted me to do.

So all of us have a choice.

Do we continue in our evil way meanings we want

to do things our own way, or do we choose

to turn and say God, your way, not my way.

Yeah. Amen, and so yeah the next light.

So I pray that today we will choose to follow

God's way and say, Lord, more of your word in

our lives. And Lord, for those of us who need this,

heal me and set me free from the pain of

my past. Amen, so that we can be ready for

your revival. We can be soft for your revival. Okay,

we hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

information on our church, please visit as church Org. We

are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that

this week is going to be a good week.

I hate for you.

God bless