Jentezen Franklin - How God Wants to Use You - Part 2
Today, I wanna talk to you about how God wants to use you in two ways that He wants to use you in the church, in your family, in your business, in life in general. These two areas that I'm gonna talk about God using people you may find yourself absolutely being used mightily of God if you'll be open to what I'm gonna share. The first one is in 1 Chronicles 4:23 and this what it says. It says, "There were the potters". Everybody say, "The potters... and they were the ones who dwelled among plants and hedges. There they dwelt with the king for his work".
If you read that verse in its entirety that I wouldn't take time to do but it lists all these important people, these powerful people, these mighty people, things that they were doing that were so incredible, and visible, and notable, and awestruck things that were able to do. And right toward the end of it, I loved that the word of God notices simply the potters. And notice, "They dwelled among plants". They were in the background. You wouldn't even know they were there, you could just see their bald cap working behind the shrubbery or they were among the plants and the hedges, kinda hid. And then the other verse that I wanna share is in Ezekiel 27. "The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy caulkers".
And then he starts talking about the ships. Strange that the Bible is so detailed. It's interesting that when you read the Bible, you begin to see the Israel when they would move forward to take the promised land there were 12 tribes. And the first tribes that was commanded every time God said an order, and they had to follow the strict order that when they were moving into new territory it was the tribe of Judah that went first, and Judah means praise. So, when Judah goes first, when Judah goes out first then victory, when Judah's on the way, victory is on the way. And when Judah would go, everybody would see that they're coming into the promised land and they're doing great things.
But I've often thought about the second, or the third, or the fourth tribe. But maybe after a few hours, after, you know, everybody made a big deal about Judah. And Judah was praised. They're the worshippers. They're the singers. They're the people on the platform. They're the people that everybody sees. But what about that pitiful twelfth tribe? Seven hours later, there's only a few people still clapping, and they're showing up, and it's the tribe of Dan. But it's important that somebody has to be in the back of the line. Somebody has to be back there for the weak, and the feeble, and the worn out, the stragglers that are about to give up. Somebody has to be at the back of the line saying, "You can't quit. You can't give up. You can't fail here. Get up and keep going. You're gonna make it".
And I thank God for the people in the back of the line. We need people. We need Danites in the church, in this church who are encouragers to people who are about to fall out of the way. Encouraging your family to not give up, encouraging people. Everybody is important in the kingdom, not just the preacher, not just the singer. You're important to revival. You're important to soul winning. Every single person is important, and God said, "I want there to be two kinds of people always present in families, in homes, and in churches. I want potters. Potters. Potters who begin to take the next generation, your children, your family, and you put your hands on 'em".
A potter's job was to find the clay, and once he found the clay, he would begin to mold that clay. He would take water, and he would begin to smooth out the clay, and get the lumps out, and put it on the wheel. And he would begin to work and make that clay into a vessel that could be used at the king's table. Who are the potters? The potters are youth workers in the church. That's see young people. And, man, their moms and dads who still believe in their teenagers when they mess up 'cause they will do dumb things, and they will do it over, and they'll do it over, and they'll do it over and over again. But you just keep putting your hands on them. You're the potter in their life and you keep shaping 'em, and you keep molding 'em, and you keep pouring into 'em, and you keep believing in 'em, and you keep encouraging them.
Don't you give up on 'em. You keep loving them. You keep telling them, "You're special. I'm telling you, God's got His hand on your life". We're called to be potters. And then he said in Ezekiel he started talking about beautiful ships. I didn't have time to read it. But it said they were expensive, and gorgeous, and beautiful ships. We call 'em yacht. He said the sail were so expensive they were made out of the best material from Egypt. And the boards of the ship were the cedars from Lebanon, and they'd been imported, and all of these gorgeous ships. And he's talking about the captain and he's talking about the pilot which is the captain, talking about all these powerful important people. And then he says, "But he also appointed caulkers".
Down in the hole of the ship. Nobody sees them. They're not up there with the wheel doing Instagram pictures. They're down in bottom of the ship and they're caulkers. Y'all know what a caulker is? Now, they told me. I had never used one of these and I was trying so hard to get that part off. I wanted to illustrate. I was gonna shoot it if it would shoot. I didn't know what it would do. And they said, "You cannot do that because if you wanna ruin your outfit". I said, "Oh, no, Cherise would kill me. Don't do that".
But this is a caulker, right? Is that what it's called? A caulker gun. And this is what we're supposed to be too. Because it doesn't matter how beautiful the ship is, it doesn't matter how beautiful the marriage is, it doesn't matter how beautiful the home is, it doesn't matter how beautiful of a life you have built, you better learn that you have to have caulking. Because they understood the ship is beautiful and it's, "What we build is incredible, but it has to be maintained". And so, they had people down in the bottom of the ship, and all they did was look at the cedars of Lebanon, and they looked at those boards and every once in a while, it would begin to seep with water and they would caulk it, seal it. They would seal it up from leaking. They would seal it up because they understood that if the ship starts taking on water it doesn't matter how beautiful it looks outwardly, if it's leaking on the inside, it's a matter of time before it goes down.
The caulkers were men, wise men in the ship. And they said, "Oh, no. This ship is going somewhere. And so, I need to stop the seeping of things from coming in". That's what happened to Noah. God told him to pitch the ark on the outside and the inside. In other words, "I want you to pitch it. I want you to caulk it on the outside to keep some bad stuff from coming in. But I also want you to caulk it on the inside to keep the good stuff from going out". And we've heard a lot about caulking on the outside so that the bad stuff can't get in and I'm all for that.
Sometimes you need to go through, and you need to caulk what's on the internet, what's coming in, what's on the TV, what's coming in, what kind of music is coming in, what kind of friends are coming in. You need to caulk that. You need to be on top of that. We need some daddies who will be caulkers. We need some mommas who will be caulkers. We need some saints who will be caulkers. That if anybody wants to gossip, and cut down, and criticize, What I have got in the revival is too precious to let you get around me and leak it out. Amen. I'mma caulk your mouth. We don't need gossip. We need to quit criticizing people. I don't know what's gon' happen in the election but we're not gon' bring the election in here. We gon' caulk that stuff and say, "We're gathered under one name. The name of Jesus. We don't want that in here. We're here for Jesus".
Come on and give me a big amen. We need some caulkers. "Don't you talk about my preacher. Franklin Jentezen is a good man". Nehemiah, Nehemiah built the walls of Jerusalem in 52 days. Miracle. Built the walls back in 52 days. Incredible. But then he started noticing, "There's a lot of stuff coming into this city. This is Jerusalem. This is a holy city. Man, they're brining everything. They're letting everybody in". And then he said, "Shut the gates". He said, "I got a new rule". He said, "Don't open the gates until the sun gets hot because I can't see this foggy stuff. There's a mist, and there's fog, and we can't tell what we are letting in, so we need to be careful to not just let anything come in".
I could see one of those gatekeepers saying, "Well, that little town down the road, they let it get in". He said, "Well, we're not that little town. We're Jerusalem. We're a holy city and we're not gonna let just anything come in here. I don't care what other churches say can come into the church now. We not gonna ordain immorality. We're not gonna put it in the pulpits. We're not gonna be a part of that. I'm not ugly, not mad at anybody. I'm just tell you, we gon' stick with the word of God. We gonna go with what God says".
I don't know, do you understand what I'm saying? There's a lot of false doctrines and things that are trying to come into the church. A rainbow flag does not belong on a real church that loves Jesus. I love the people. The people can come in but we gonna caulk that one. We're not gonna let that spirit come into our church. "Well, I'mma withhold my tithe". Well, you wouldn't be the first. And you won't be the last. We need some daddies who will caulk the ship. We need some mommas who will caulk the ship. I've been serving the Lord for over 40 years, and I want you to listen to me, I still need to be careful and that's why I caulk the ship. I don't wait till it gets knee-deep. I don't wait till it gets waist deep.
When you see things seeping into your life, you better caulk that ship. If you see it seeping into your children's life do everything you can to caulk that ship and that boat. Stand up. Caulk the boat. These are perilous, serious times. I don't care how beautiful your family is, the enemy would love to kill, steal, and destroy. But if there's somebody that's careful, I guess what I'm trying to say is, you still need to be careful. You still need to be at a place where you just are discerning right from wrong and being very conscious of God. We need caulkers. And we'll wait till we know what is right. Getting weak is not the answer and letting up is not the answer, and backing down is not the answer. The boat will not float if you don't keep a spirit of caulking. Caulk anger. Caulk unforgiveness. Catch it quick.
Don't let it simmer for weeks and months and years. Caulk it. Calk bitterness. Caulk addiction. Caulk anything that's taking over your life, seeping in, starting to change who you are. You better caulk it. That's my sermon. It's really simple. That the ship floats only because there's caulkers down there. This boat needs more than a captain at the wheel. I'm the captain and I'm under the shepherd Jesus. But it needs potters who are daily shaping little lives, raising up a new generation. And this church needs desperately, not me with a list of things, a little list of this is going on, and that's going on, but you with discernment, and the fear, and the love of the Lord stand, and anything you see in your life you start caulking that area with the word of God you seal it.
You know, there's a verse in Ephesians I wanna close with. It says, "After you've heard the word of truth, the gospel of salvation in whom you have believed you are sealed. You've been caught with the holy spirit of promise". How long has it been since you let the Holy Spirit touch you? How long has it been since you let Him caulk some things that you've gotten loose with. It's not a game in times like these. I think about the young couples in this church. So many of you are struggling, just like Cherise and I had struggled in our marriage from time to time, especially in the younger years, especially when our family had something going on, it brings stress from every direction, or the church and everything would seem to hit it once many times.
And I can remember not knowing who to turn to, not knowing what to do, but I can tell you after 36 years of being with her, that there are potters in this house for your marriage and there are caulkers in this house who if you'll listen to 'em, they're elders, they're wise. They have the council of God, and they'll help you seal up some areas where Satan keeps coming in at his own will. And if you would just let the hands of some of these believers that had been through it and let 'em lay their hands on you, and let them pray for you, and let them counsel you, let them shape you, let them mold you into that vessel. Caulk up any the broken pieces. I'm so glad he's not just a prince of peace, he's the prince of the pieces. And He says, "If you've messed up, I can put it all back together. I've got a plan for your life".
And I felt led just to do something different this morning. But God can use you and God can seal you and God can take and form you, if you'll become the clay in the potter's hands. And I'm gonna ask our leaders, our pastors, and I'm gonna ask those that are 40 and above to come and stand down here in front of the congregation and face them. We're gonna do something different this morning. If you're a leader in the church, and all the workers, husbands and wives, come on. Come on, 40 and above. Hurry, the king's business takes haste. Thank you, Lord. I want couples. Come on, that's it. Come on. Beautiful.
You see, these badges mean we trust these people, we know these people. These people who have been schooled the word of God and they know how to pray. And if you're in this room today and you're a young couple, your family going through a struggle, you got children, right now, that you saw the revival, maybe even the Lord touched, how powerful would it be? Maybe you're a teenage, maybe you're a college student. I believe that there are potters and I believe that there are caulkers and I believe that God can use this ministry through the power of the Holy Spirit to seal you, and what God seals the enemy can't steal.
So, I'm gonna ask you to stand all over the building. And I'm gonna ask every person in this room, every couple in this room who needs God to touch you, you said, "Well, I'm not gon' walk down there, people will think I have a problem". No, no. Everybody's got a problem. Every family's got a problem. So, if you have a need, I want you to get out of your seat, and I want you to let these elders lay their hands on you and pray for you. Maybe you're seeking the will of God. Maybe you're seeking God's plan. Maybe you don't know. Maybe you need that touch this morning. You're in the right service at the right time. Come on, come now. They're coming. Come on. Come quickly. Come from the back. Come from the front. Come from the overflow wherever you are, whoever you are. I want everybody in this room to raise your hands and sing this song with us.
It's beautiful, come on. They're coming. And those of you on the altar praying for people, pray for one couple and then move to another couple. Move to another couple. It's not a long prayer. It's just the laying on of hands and ministering to people in the need. Come on. Come on, that's it. Keep coming. Praise God. Everybody pray this prayer, say:
Jesus. I give you my life. I surrender completely to you. Here's my heart. Here's my hands. Here's my feet. Use me. Make me a potter. And make me a conqueror. Teach me how to help people. And teach me how to keep my own boat afloat. I receive this. I'm forgiven. I'm washed. I'm cleansed. By the blood of Jesus Christ, (and the church said) amen.