Majesty of the Miry Clay
Pastor David T. Elms 5/18/2025
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35:28
Summary
Pastor Elms explores how God forged the most durable and significant instruments for Solomon's Temple in the 'miry clay' of the Jordan valley. He encourages those feeling stuck in messy, 'in-between' seasons that these are the very places where God does His most majestic work, turning our brokenness into pillars of strength.
Key points
- •The construction of Solomon's Temple involved intricate symbolism, including the bronze pillars Jachin (He Establishes) and Boaz (In Strength) which were decorative rather than structural.
- •The bronze artifacts were cast in the 'miry clay' of the Jordan valley - a barren, unnamed, and slippery place between Sukoth and Zarethan.
- •Life consists of special days and usual days, but often we find ourselves in 'in-between' places where we lose our footing and feel unnamed or forgotten.
- •God uses the high heat of life's furnaces and the humble 'miry clay' of our lowest moments to forge the strongest, most beautiful parts of our character.
- •Just as a Japanese 'boro' coat is made of patches or a trash dump orchestra makes music from waste, God repurposes our brokenness into a testimony of His majesty.
Scripture
Providence
Transformation
Suffering and Growth
Divine Craftsmanship
Life application
If you find yourself in a 'slippery' season where you lack footing, do not despair or assume God has abandoned you. Intentionally offer your messy, unnamed middle-ground to God this week, trusting that He is using this heat to forge a strength in you that cannot be built in a comfortable vineyard.
Reflection questions
- Are you currently in a 'special' day, a 'usual' day, or a 'miry clay' season? How does that change your perspective on God's work?
- Why do you think God chose an unnamed, muddy pit to forge the most durable instruments for His Temple instead of the beautiful vineyards?
- What 'patchwork' stories of survival in your life has God used to keep you spiritually warm or protected?
- The pillars Jachin and Boaz stood at the entrance to remind people of God's strength. What reminders has God placed at the 'entrance' of your current season?
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Full transcript
0:00I got to have his presence in the house.
0:00Hallelujah. And so today, I want to talk
0:01to you on the subject the majesty of the
0:03myy clay. And yes, that song talks about
0:08him bringing me out of the myy clay.
0:10Now, when you get in the church, one of
0:12the things that's kind of challenging is
0:15understanding how quick it is that
0:17metaphors are
0:18utilized when you preach the word of
0:21God. I like I like to call it sometimes
0:25when I hear preachers preach, they can
0:27get off into the madness of metaphors.
0:31Does it make any sense and does it mean
0:33anything? If it doesn't mean anything,
0:35then are we just having fun creating
0:38scenarios with our mind? Or does it have
0:41a true meaning in what it's supposed to
0:43be? The Bible says that in the Old
0:45Testament, all of the building of the
0:48tabernacle, the establishment of the
0:51temple of Solomon served as symbols of
0:56how the world really works, especially
0:59in the ways of God. That's why if you've
1:01ever been through a Bible study from
1:03this church, you will find out we take a
1:06good amount of time talking about the
1:08tabernacle of Moses. And are we just
1:11trying to take you a trip to El Dorado
1:14and learn about a furniture store?
1:16Listen, I don't like going to the
1:17furniture store. If I go to the
1:20furniture store, it's not going to be
1:21IKEA, okay? That is not a furniture
1:24store for all of you who think it is.
1:26Okay? It is not. But it's a great place
1:29to save money if you want to save money.
1:31And it's another great place for all you
1:34tool workers to go and buy things and
1:38all you wives who want to see your
1:39husband work. It's another great place
1:41for you all. Okay? I've learned from
1:45experience. And uh half of my house is
1:48IKEA. Not quite, but a little bit of it.
1:52Uh but you know so you you you learn
1:55about furniture and you think why am I
1:57learning about this furniture? What does
1:59it make any sense and does it mean
2:01anything? Are we just trying to fill up
2:04time when we preach or is it really how
2:06the world really works? Is it helpful to
2:10know how to win? How to win in all of
2:12your days and your ways? And uh so here
2:16we are uh looking and reading through a
2:18text that's somewhat befuddling. If you
2:22uh read through the text with me and
2:24sister Denita was reading from it, you
2:27read a lot of descriptions of brass or
2:30brazen or bronze instruments that were
2:34made. It tells us the name of the guy
2:36who cares who Hyram is. Who cares about
2:39brass instruments? I don't need to know
2:40about all that, do I? And that's my
2:43point today is why do I need to know
2:45about this and how can it help you when
2:48you leave here today to save the lost
2:51and to reach the broken and find healing
2:54for the hurting. And so when we read
2:56through this, we read through several
2:58verses and if you read uh all of it, you
3:00can see a great amount of description is
3:03given to the building of this temple of
3:06Solomon. We know the tabernacle of Moses
3:09is reported greatly on it. The temple of
3:12Solomon is reported greatly here. I
3:14mean, when it comes to time to describe
3:16the stars, the Bible gives us about just
3:20a few words. He made the stars also.
3:23Boom.
3:25And and yet he'll spend all this time
3:28telling us about brass bowls and a they
3:31called it the sea of brass, which all
3:33that meant was it was a huge uh labor,
3:36which is that that's not a modern day
3:37word. How many knows what a labor is?
3:40It's it's it's just a massive massive
3:42bowl. It's huge and it's more bigger.
3:45It's larger than our baptismal tank. And
3:48it it was built on the back of 12 brass
3:52bulls. This is where the Mormon church
3:54got their idea from for their baptismal
3:57tank. And if you've ever been to the big
3:59T temple over on SRA or on 75, you've
4:03ever toured that, you'll see there
4:04they've got a big labor there where
4:07people are baptized. And so what is this
4:10all about? And what does it mean for us?
4:12Is it just some kind of sanctioning of
4:14religion? Is it a creation of of
4:16metaphors or uh makeelieve? Or does it
4:20really mean something? Because here we
4:23read through all of these things and
4:24made labors of brass. Then he talks
4:27about two pillars and all of these 400
4:29pomegranates and its description of this
4:31amazing entrance going in one sea and 12
4:34oxen under the under the sea. And I'm
4:36reading from the King James version. she
4:38read from uh I believe it was the uh New
4:41American Standard. I'm not sure which
4:42edition she read out of. But when we get
4:45to verse 46 here, there's a little piece
4:49of information that is the essence of my
4:52message
4:54today. And in the plane of
4:57Jordan did the king cast
5:01them in the clay ground between Suath
5:05and Zaran.
5:08Okay. What in the world does that have
5:10to do with anything? Why is this in the
5:14middle of all of this description?
5:17Here's what the word of the Lord is for
5:19somebody here today. The word of the
5:21Lord is this. Many times in the past few
5:25uh months, we've had very special days
5:27here at the Cathedral of Pentecost. We
5:29had Resurrection Sunday. It's a special
5:32day. In the last few weeks, we had
5:34Mother's Day, a very, very special day.
5:37We've had the launch wrap up in which
5:39there was a tremendous offering given to
5:42our launch campaign that we're going to
5:44build a church for the living God. It
5:46was a special day. We still have the
5:48remnants of the declarations from those
5:50days around us, those wonderful days.
5:53And then we've got more in front of us.
5:55Pentecost Sunday is coming. Father's Day
5:57is coming. Brother Whitley had a
5:59birthday this past Monday and he thinks
6:01that's a really special day. Uh but but
6:05we know it's more special than he does
6:07because of how much we love him. And uh
6:10all of these are special days that are
6:13around us. But life is not made up of
6:15special days. I preached a message years
6:18ago entitled the significance of the
6:21usual. And I talked about how you can
6:24live for the special days. The day you
6:26graduate from high school, the day you
6:28graduate from college, the day you get
6:30your graduate degree, the day you get
6:32married, it was a special day. I went to
6:34a wedding uh Friday night and it just is
6:37a special thing. I love that's a great
6:40day. In fact, it could be the greatest
6:42day of your life. It is the most
6:44important day of your life after getting
6:45the Holy Ghost in all your life is the
6:47day you get married. Uh and these are
6:49things that you don't want to do all by
6:51yourself. You don't want to do it based
6:53upon what your psychologist has told
6:55you. You don't want to do it on what you
6:57learn from your psychologist. No, you
6:59better build a home on things that last
7:01and matter. And that's not just the
7:03things of gold and brass and money and
7:06jobs. It's a spiritual transaction
7:09that's got to make you strong. So you've
7:12got to have the special days, but then
7:14there's the days you've got to learn are
7:17significant because it's just a common
7:19day, common flow of things. Days when
7:23you're reaching for extraordinary things
7:25and you end up with ordinary things in
7:27your hand and you've got to learn how to
7:30appreciate that. If you raise your
7:32children to only appreciate the special
7:35days, then you are raising a dis an
7:39unqualified human being on this earth
7:42because you've got to learn to
7:44embrace not just the extraordinary but
7:47the ordinary days. But here is the
7:51essence of my me message today is that
7:55sometimes you're not in an extraordinary
7:59day. And sometimes you wish it was an
8:04ordinary day because where you're at is
8:07so bad that nobody will even name the
8:11place where you're at. You're between
8:14here and there. You're between in and
8:18out.
8:19And you're in a realm where you cannot
8:21comprehend why you are where you are.
8:25You're not sure where you are. You know
8:28you have been there and you're going
8:31over there. But right now where you're
8:33at, you cannot get a grip on. I wish in
8:37life we had a very few of these days. I
8:42wish most of life had special times in
8:45it. But most of life is the usual life.
8:49Sometimes it's special. Most of the time
8:52it's usual. But then there's this that
8:55I'm calling the
8:58majesty of my
9:00rec. Because when we get to this text,
9:03we're reading about the building of the
9:05temple. Solomon's temple is extravagant
9:07in every feature. This temple had so
9:10much money prepared for it by King David
9:13of Israel. He was not allowed by God to
9:16build this. So he had saved up for his
9:18son Solomon to build the house. And
9:21there was no house like it. You've heard
9:24how when the Queen of Sheba came to this
9:27house, it took her breath away. Not just
9:29the house, but the way the people went
9:31into the house. The way they ascended to
9:34the house of the Lord before he that she
9:37even got close to the sanctuary. as she
9:39watched people in the parking lot, there
9:42was just a disposition about those going
9:46to church that she knew there was more
9:49there than what meets the eye. And so
9:52this temple of Solomon had been built
9:55and it's been constructed. And if I told
9:57you the chronology of it, it took eight
9:59years to build this temple. And five
10:02years of the temple has been worked on.
10:04This is an amazing place there in
10:07Jerusalem still you can go to visit
10:10where it stood right now and involving
10:14in the building of this amazing temple.
10:16There are cedars from Lebanon. There are
10:19oaks from Bashan. All of them are spoken
10:21of. the stone quarry where Hyram and his
10:25craftsmen were able to prepare the stone
10:28so that when they built this temple, not
10:30one sound of a scaffold was heard at the
10:34house. They were perfectly cut before
10:36they ever got to the site. And when they
10:39got to the site, they were perfect fits,
10:41which almost seems hard to believe. a
10:44genius of engineering, a talent just so
10:47that the sanctuary would have the
10:50sweetness, not the sound of work, but
10:52the sound of the blessing of God. And so
10:56here for five years, they've worked on
10:58this temple. But as we read the opening
11:00words of our text, the Bible says
11:04Solomon brought a man for the end of the
11:06temple. This man Hyram came and he was
11:09the son of a widow. His father had
11:11worked in bronze and he was a phenomenal
11:15craftsman in building bronze things. And
11:18Solomon after five years of watching
11:20this temple go up with all of the
11:23presence of money and structure, it's to
11:25the end and he has to add something to
11:29the front of the holy place. It's not a
11:32part of Moses's tabernacle. This is an
11:35addition that Moses did not have in his
11:38tabernacle. But Solomon wanted to add it
11:40because there were statements that
11:43needed to be made when you enter into
11:46this temple. And so he goes and brings
11:49Hyram and says, "I've got to have on the
11:52outside before anybody comes in things
11:55that are not structure, but they're just
11:58celebration. And so I want you to go and
12:01get all kinds of bowls and shovels and
12:04articles that can be working and useful
12:07in the tools and the expression of the
12:10temple. And I want you to go and make
12:12many of them and do it out of bronze.
12:15And then you're to make two columns and
12:17I want you to name those columns. One
12:19will be Jac and the other will be Boaz.
12:22And Jac and when the people heard that
12:24they didn't hear the name Jacen. It
12:26meant God establishes. And on the other
12:29side of the entrance into the holy was
12:31the the pillar named Boaz, which means
12:34the strength of the Lord. And so when
12:36they entered into this temple of this
12:38two columns built out of bronze that
12:41were almost 30 feet tall were on one
12:44side and the other. They supported
12:46nothing. None of the structure stood on
12:48them. They made bowls with decorative
12:51pomegranates to sit on the top of them.
12:53But when you walked into the holy place,
12:55leaving the area where the common folk
12:58were and you walked in the holy place of
13:00God on either side was he establishes in
13:04his strength. He establishes in his
13:07strength. So when you walked in the
13:08house of the Lord, you didn't just walk
13:10past just an opening with normaly. No,
13:13it was this this pillar would be on one
13:16side that say God establishes and on the
13:19other side would be a pillar that says
13:21he does it in his strength and Solomon
13:24has them put up there and then uh of all
13:27of this process he's got to make them
13:29the sea for purification which would be
13:31the washing of the hands of the priest
13:34and then the labors of water for the
13:36cleansing of the priest because God said
13:38if you're going to enter the holy place
13:40you got to walk in there with clean
13:41hands. If you go in with dirty hands,
13:44then you will be in major major trouble.
13:47And so cleanliness was a part of the
13:49holiness of God. And all of this had to
13:52have bowls and places. And so Solomon
13:55said, "We want to do it, but we've got
13:57to do it outside where it's going to be
13:59exposed to the weather and it's got to
14:01be tough, but it's got to be beautiful."
14:03So he chooses to make it out of bronze.
14:07Now I know you and I all of us may not
14:10understand the the story of the errors
14:13of history but there was a period known
14:15as the greatest technological
14:17advancement in the history of men. It
14:20was known as the bronze era and it was
14:23because the technology of creation had
14:26advanced to where more strength could be
14:29put into a metal. Bronze was made 90%
14:33copper and 10% tin. But you couldn't
14:36make bronze with a normal fire. It took
14:39a hot fire. In fact, not a normal wood
14:42could make bronze. It's not going to
14:44melt in that. And so they had to go to a
14:47place where they could build a fire that
14:50would build bronze. And they brought it
14:53in. And the place where he went wasn't
14:55to the place where the grape vines were
14:58escal. The place of the grapes of
15:01Canaan. No, he didn't take them to the
15:03bread of Bethlehem where the bread
15:06basket of Jer Judea was. No, he said,
15:09"There's a spot I want you to go to. It
15:12isn't a beautiful place. It's not a
15:14lovely place. It's not a welcoming
15:17place. In fact, it's a place that we
15:20won't even name. It's just a spot
15:23somewhere between Sukath and Zerath. And
15:27there on the in between there's a miry
15:30clay pit. And when you get down to that
15:34miry clay pit somewhere between two
15:37places that's where it can hold the heat
15:41that can build this iron and this
15:44blending of tin and copper. And and I
15:47don't want to get too caught off in the
15:48science of it but bronze era led into
15:52the iron era. And then there was the
15:54second iron era. And these were named
15:57not because somebody was looking for a
15:59name, but the advancement of
16:01civilization was so stunning during
16:04those times because they finally found a
16:06way to make a stronger metal. And bronze
16:09was the most powerful metal, but also a
16:13metal that was beautiful to behold. It
16:16had the appearance of gold, but it had a
16:18stronger strength than the soft gold. So
16:21you could make decorative things of
16:23gold. But if you needed something tough,
16:26that could stand up to the elements,
16:28that could be out in the weather, that
16:30could always be pretty, but also stand
16:33up to tough elements, it had to be
16:36bronze. And so he said, "We want to put
16:39something out there at the entrance of
16:41the holy place that's going to say he
16:44establishes in his strength, but it
16:47can't be made of gold because gold's too
16:50soft and gold moves too easily. It's got
16:54to have something tougher in it than
16:55that. And so he said, "There's only one
16:58place I can make the bronze. I can't
17:00make it in the vineyards. I can't make
17:03it in the bread basket when I'm going to
17:06make something tough and strong that
17:09could be made from the heat. It took a
17:11thousand degrees temperature to get
17:14bronze made. And to find a way to make a
17:17furnace in that hour was very much a
17:20technological advancement. to be able to
17:23even do that took a special kind of
17:25fire. And it couldn't just be a fire.
17:27That was when they invented the billows.
17:29And they began to find that by taking
17:31charcoal and blowing billows on the
17:34charcoal, the fire could be raised to a
17:37level that would make the st the
17:39structure of the metal strong to where
17:42it could be 90% copper. Please forget my
17:45forgive my nerdiness. I get caught up in
17:47the facts. But the facts tell me a story
17:50about how to raise my kids. The facts
17:53tell me a story how to look at my
17:54trouble. The facts tell me a story of
17:57how to deal with that problem I'm going
17:59to have to face tomorrow morning at 2:00
18:01a.m. I'll tell you how. You got to
18:03understand some things about these
18:05metaphors. If you want to understand the
18:07building of the temple of God, I think
18:09it could be that Solomon, who was noted
18:12for his wisdom in many ways. The Bible
18:14tells us he was really known for his
18:16wisdom. It might be that his greatest
18:18work was five years into the building of
18:21the temple when he had already
18:23established the gold work on the inside
18:26and the handiwork from the cedars and
18:28the beautiful work from the oaks and all
18:31of the glory of the interior of the holy
18:33place. It might be that his greatest
18:36work was when he looked over the
18:39landscape and found that my clay pit out
18:42there that could build something strong
18:44enough to stand up to the test of time.
18:47It might be that the redemption of that
18:50myy clay would have been his greatest
18:53work in that batch of barren ground
18:56where nothing would grow. in that place
18:58where there's no liies growing and no
19:01breadc corn growing and no grape vines
19:03growing. It's just an old miry clay pit
19:07where the gra where the grapes could not
19:09be tasted and the bread could not be
19:11celebrated where if you got in it
19:13there's going to be mud on your feet and
19:14it's not solid ground to stand on. You
19:17won't have good footing in that spot.
19:19You'll be sliding around and trying to
19:21get a grip. If you've ever been in clay
19:23kind of mud, you know what I'm talking
19:26about. We had it all through Charlotte
19:27when I grew up. That red clay of the
19:29south and you get in it in the rain and
19:32there's no grip there and it gets on you
19:34and it doesn't come off easily and all
19:36of that but someplace between two
19:39places. He said, "Go find that spot
19:41between Suckath and Zaron, that barren
19:45ground, and there I want you to build
19:48the bronze work in the clay, in the miry
19:52clay, in the stiff, cold, sour clay. The
19:58place where you won't grow food and you
20:01won't grow drink. A place with no name,
20:04just clay muck." Psalmist tells us in
20:08Psalm 40, "He drew me up from a desolate
20:13pit out of the miry clay and set my feet
20:18upon a rock." I hate not having my
20:21footing. If you've ever had to go up the
20:24side of a mountain, you want to make
20:25sure you got climbing shoes on. If you
20:28ever had to run, you want to make sure
20:29you got something that could grip the
20:31ground. Because if you don't have good
20:33footing, I'm preaching to somebody right
20:36now that had been trying to find your
20:38footing in life and you're trying to
20:40find something that'll hold you. And you
20:43tried investments and it doesn't
20:44satisfy. And you've tried friendships
20:46and they've let you down. And you want a
20:49good family and it just seems like it's
20:51fracturing left and right. And you're
20:53just trying to find footing in your
20:55life. that it could be that you're in
20:57the miry clay, that there's no rock for
21:00you to stand on. But there is where God
21:03does his greatest
21:06work. Greatest
21:10work. Japan, they have all kinds of
21:14practices that are amazing. They have
21:16what is known as the Japanese borrow
21:19which is an art born of mending and
21:22repositioning and repurposing cloths.
21:27And there they take patchwork and make
21:31coats out of them. Many times they'll be
21:33blue. But the reason why they have this
21:36practice of the Japanese borro boro
21:39borro is where we get the idea of uh
21:42just patchwork and and the tattered
21:46garments and and there they will take
21:49this and purpose it and what happened
21:51was uh there was a season in Japan's
21:54history where the cloth and the cotton
21:57and the fine linen was reserved for only
22:01the elite of society. And there was a
22:04section of land up in the north of Japan
22:06that grew very cold. But because they
22:08were not given access to the cotton and
22:11the linen, those mothers would take old
22:14garments and take the shons of the house
22:17and the curtains of the house and they
22:19would sew them together and when it tore
22:22they would just take another piece from
22:24an old curtain or an old blanket and
22:27repurpose it and sew it and make it a
22:29coat so people could stay warm at night.
22:31And it was just patches handed down by
22:35memory. Not any fine cotton, not any
22:38quality silk. Just a patch from here and
22:42a little pull from there and a spot off
22:44of this garment and a piece of that
22:47curtain. And they would take this
22:48patchwork. And through their thrift and
22:50resilience and heritage, they would turn
22:53tatters into warm coats to where every
22:56patch held a story of survival. And they
22:59would layer it and mend it. and the
23:01materials were used to reinforce and
23:04recreate garments for the people that
23:06they love. I'm talking to a people today
23:09that all you seem to hold is patchwork
23:12from here and there. But I've got a God
23:14who takes those broken things and he
23:16puts your life together again. You're
23:19looking at a man with a great family.
23:21You're looking at a man with a wonderful
23:2336-year marriage. You're looking at a
23:26man who watched his mom and dad. My
23:28daddy left a job working for the
23:30government in San Diego fixing fighter
23:33jet planes to go to the ministry for
23:36just a few weeks worth of meetings and
23:38he gave up that solid pay to do the work
23:41of God. You're looking at a man who was
23:44on the full the school lunch program.
23:46You're looking at a man the family
23:49couldn't afford health insurance. So my
23:51daddy always asked for the insurance
23:54reform that was put out for the public
23:56school system for us kids. Mom and dad
23:59didn't need to be covered. They would
24:01just cover our kids in case we broke an
24:03arm. Ah, you're looking at a man who
24:06lived on beans for two months at a time
24:09because mom and dad didn't have the
24:10money to get groceries. But they
24:12understood something about life that it
24:15wasn't always about pensions and power
24:17and investments and money and returns.
24:20Ah, it was about a kingdom that had
24:23spirit and power and force. And though
24:27it went to the marry clay, down in that
24:30marry clay, a brokenness it seemed to be
24:34that was where brass was made and
24:37strength was given. In Catira, Paraguay,
24:42it's a city where all they have is a
24:44trash dump. There's a city where the
24:47people make their money off of going
24:49when the trash is brought in from
24:51everywhere and they pick the trash. As
24:54soon as the trucks dumped, they have
24:56pigs and they open up every bag and they
24:59recover all of the stuff in the dump.
25:01And in 2012, a remarkable thing
25:05happened. The recycled orchestra of Kera
25:09was formed. A man said, "Our kids are
25:13growing up in polluted waters and on a
25:16trash dump. But I'll tell you, we cannot
25:19just let them stay here." So he decided,
25:22"We're going to build instruments. One
25:24violin costs more than the homes they
25:27lived in." And so this man decided in
25:302012, we will take the ingredients from
25:33the dump and make instruments. And so
25:36they created violins out of oven trays.
25:40They created cellos out of oil drums.
25:44They made flutes out of broken pieces of
25:47pipe and melted coins and spoons put
25:50together. They made saxophones out of
25:53drain pipes and melted coins. They made
25:56it all out of tin cans and bottle caps
25:59and old utensils. So real instruments
26:02would cost more than they could ever
26:03afford. But they created music and they
26:06started learning and practicing and now
26:08you can see them performing out all
26:11their instruments recycled pieces of
26:14trash that they've created an instrument
26:16out of. Their motto of this ensemble is
26:21the world sends us garbage but we will
26:23send back music. It was in the waste
26:26dump where they found the song. the
26:29polluted waters and the illiteracy that
26:31ran so rampant it became a place where
26:33the children began to create music. So
26:38you as I close sitting here today maybe
26:42you're in a special day shout about it.
26:45Maybe you're in the usual rejoice for
26:48the significance of the common. But if
26:51it that may be that you're between two
26:53spots. You know where you were were and
26:56you know where you're headed. But where
26:58you're at is so slippery, you don't even
27:02think it's worth naming. I want to tell
27:04you that right there in the middle of
27:06your miry clay, God has sent me to tell
27:09you, he'll make something beautiful out
27:12of your m. He'll make something awesome
27:15out of your struggle. He'll take you
27:17through and bring you out.
27:22Stuck in the middle ground.
27:25stuck with no place to get a grip. It's
27:29a place where God makes his artwork.
27:33Jeremiah said it. It's like we're like
27:36clay in the potter's hand. So are you in
27:39my hand, sayeth the Lord. There's
27:41majesty in the mud. The clay, that's
27:46where you're going to make the materials
27:48that will say he establishes in
27:51strength. It's there that I'm going to
27:54make. It's going to be able to stand up
27:56to the heat. Oh, it was the only place
28:00because they had to make clay ovens that
28:03could use the bellows and get the
28:05temperature of the fire to at least a
28:07thousand
28:08degrees. There is where it was formed.
28:14So, the past three years of the building
28:16of the temple, the Bible says in our
28:18text, he made instruments
28:23unwed, for there were so many of them.
28:27In other words, every shovel they
28:30needed, they made it there. Every bucket
28:33to carry out the old bones, they made it
28:36there. All the tongs to clean out the
28:39altar of sacrifice, they made it there.
28:42Big baptismal tank, the labor of water,
28:46they made it there. every place to wash
28:49their hands before they would enter into
28:51the sanctuary. It was made in that
28:54place, that unnamed place, that place
28:59between two
29:01places. My heart was
29:03distressed beneath Jehovah's dread
29:06frown.
29:08And low in the pit where my sin dragged
29:12me
29:13down. I cried to the Lord from the deep
29:18merry
29:19clay who tenderly brought me out to
29:25golden
29:29day. He is the one who gets us where we
29:33got to go. Oh, you all look so good
29:36today.
29:37You look so full. Your bank accounts are
29:40full. You got somewhere to eat when this
29:43place is over. You got gas in your tank.
29:47You got room on your credit card.
29:50Somebody say, "Amen."
29:52You know what I'm talking about. You
29:53just paid cuz it was the 15th.
29:56You got at least enough that you had to
29:59pay
30:00down. I got more folks in the house who
30:02know what I'm talking about.
30:05But the enemy wants you to think you're
30:07not even in a usual spot. And I've come
30:10to tell you there's majesty in the miry
30:14clay. So you're there. It's a place of
30:17holy humility. When you're in that miry
30:20clay, you don't mind singing. Oh, rich
30:23fat cat. Oh, you look at all of us
30:25worshippers and say, "That's for them.
30:27That's not for me." But if you ever get
30:29down to that spot where you don't know
30:31really what's going on and you can't get
30:34your grip, your feet are slippery. You
30:37don't know what's going on. He does his
30:40best work in the miry clay. I am doing a
30:45new thing, sayeth the Lord. It was when
30:47he went to Gethsemane that everybody
30:50heard him pray. But it was when he went
30:53to Goltha. Nothing pretty about Goltha.
30:57just looks like a skull. It's a place
31:01that nobody wants to go hang out. That
31:03cursed place Goltha, but it was on Gotha
31:07Goltha that he made cleansing for my
31:10hands and washing for my heart and hope
31:14for my mind. Oh, there's sins in this
31:17house today that you have wrestled with
31:19and wrestled with and wrestled with and
31:22you hate them. You don't even like your
31:24sin. But it's got a grip on you and it
31:28calls you back and you find yourself
31:31staggering back to the old sin. The
31:35Bible said like a dog to his own
31:38vomit. That's what it's like when one
31:40goes back to their sin. And yet that's
31:43what flesh does. We know it's not going
31:46to make for a better life, but something
31:49in our soul is crying for an answer. And
31:53so we go thinking, well, if I if I do
31:56what the enemy says, if I if I do what
31:58my flesh says, if I do what the world
32:01says, then I'll find happiness. And I
32:03want to proclaim to you that there's a
32:05way to any claim. There's an old altar
32:09up here where you can come and say, "Oh
32:11Lord, there's not a lot of grip going
32:14on. I'm feeling my way through it, but I
32:17need you. Who am I preaching to today?
32:20As we stand all over this building, all
32:22you've got are patchwork, patchwork,
32:24patchwork patchwork patchwork
32:27patchwork. You're not sure what's going
32:29on. You don't even know where you're at,
32:31but it's a messy place. You're
32:36slipping. Every heart in this house, the
32:38Holy Ghost sent me to tell you, don't
32:41you think because you're in a miry clay
32:44that it's a bad place for you. Uh, I
32:48know some of you all are living for God.
32:50You've you've you've got sin taken care
32:52of. You know the way to the cross, but
32:55some of your situation is so
32:57unreasonable, you don't even know how to
32:59get a grip there. Don't think that God's
33:02not doing his best work for you where
33:05you're at right now. He might be doing
33:07his best work for your children where
33:10they're at right now. We might think
33:12it's so bad because it looks so
33:14terrible. and I put on my best dress and
33:17I paste on my smile to make everybody
33:20think I'm doing good. But really, I'm
33:22not doing good. God's got you right
33:25where he wants you to bring you out into
33:28a place of value to help people get
33:32clean. Who am I talking to that the
33:34devil's been beating you up? The devil's
33:37been beating you up. He's told you
33:40you're forgotten. You've been neglected.
33:43You don't even have a place you can say
33:45you're at. Oh, the Lord sent me to tell
33:48you there's majesty in the miry clay.
33:52Every hand in this house, I wish you
33:55would raise it. I wish you would raise
33:57it with me right now. There's some
33:59prayers that needs to be sounded. Oh,
34:02why don't you lift your voice and pray
34:04with me now? Oh, Jesus, help me to
34:08realize what you're doing through me
34:11right now. Help me to understand. I'm
34:15not going to listen to the devil
34:17anymore. I'm tired of listening to his
34:20lies. I'm not sure where I'm at. I'm not
34:24sure what's going on. Fear has been
34:27dogging me. All I want to do is get it
34:30right. I just want to get it right.
34:33Lord, I'm trying to make good decisions
34:36and it just seems like I can't find my
34:39footing. I just want to make a better
34:41decision tomorrow. And here I am stuck
34:44in nowhere. Nowhere. But I need you,
34:48Lord. I'm asking you to help me right
34:51now. Make something amazing out of me.
34:55Build me into a blessing. Build me into
34:58a powerful The Holy Ghost is moving all
35:01over this building right now. Right now,
35:03the Holy Ghost is coming down like the
35:05dew. Make me, Lord.
35:09For me, Lord. For me, Lord. You're
35:12starting to see
35:15the value in what God's working.
35:18Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
35:21[Music]