The Amazing Race
How To Stay Centered In Faith

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 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. Then the word of the LORD came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD . "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
Jeremiah 18:1-6 (New International Version)

Staying Centered versus being Self-Centered

Today being centered often involves finding out                               .

In truth being centered involves finding out how                                                    and then living it out.

1. God gave each of us                           and He                                watching us use them.
   He has shaped each person in turn; no He watches everything we do.
   Psalm 33:15 (The Message)

2. You bring                                          to God by using your                                              . Don't try to be what you are not.
   You have no right to argue with your Creator. You are merely a clay pot shaped by a potter. The clay doesn't ask, "Why did you may me this way?"
   Isaiah 45:9 (Contemporary English Version)

3. When we get off center God will                                reform us to what He knows is best for us.
   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 (New International Version)

4. God reforms us out of His                      for us.
   Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? ... Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
   Hebrews 12:7, 10-11 (New International Version)