Forging the Vessel of Recovery A New Cruse, 2Ki 2:20 And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put

salt therein. And they brought it to him. Must be new, must be prepared, must be submitted completely, existing completely to serve the life that is within her, Must be full of salt, Consider Mary when carrying the babe Jesus in her womb-a vessel. Jesus walked in the flesh, no place to lay His head, and that body never argued with Him, it existed to serve the life within it. He laid it down at Calvary, picked up another body of Christ at Pentecost. We are not our own, we have been bought with a price. Can't argue, must do what He says, go where He says, never argue. We are to serve the life that is within us. Must be a vessel of whom Christ is absolute Lord, without question. This vessel must be selfless, denying the flesh's desires, not living for self. His desire is to be ours. Our will must die. Walk in the Holy Ghost, do what He commands us to and be what He tells us to, and we will be what He wants us to be. What is a disciple according to the Scriptures? Attributes of the disciple: Must have a personal life with God. We have to know God for ourselves. We must be able to hear His voice. He wants us to come to Him and talk to Him and He wants to talk to us. It is so important for us to know the Spirit of the Lord working in our own lives. We must have God dealing with us personally. We must have a praise of God in our hearts. We must share what is in the heart of God. May God help us enter into the discontent of God with the state of the world and the church. Must have dedication to prayer, the Word, giving of ourselves, missions, desire to reach the lost with the glorious truth of Jesus Christ. Must be content to live meager and give generously. Take joyfully the spoiling of your goods. The first century church looked to live humbly, and give generously. When Samuel was in the temple, the light was about to go out and God made known His dissatisfaction to Him. He didn't send another person. This child was given a message that God was not pleased with Eli. This child loved Eli and didn't want to see him judged. But He had the Word from God and had to say it. God is looking for someone with enough experience personally with God that they can share what is in God's heart and feel His pain. When God apprehends a person, He immediately brings them to death of self so He can resurrect His life in them. They go through hard and dry places. Ref to Ezekiel's wife dying and God telling Him to preach without mentioning her death. Israel, God's wife was dead and nobody cared. Ezekiel was experiencing what was in the heart of God. Surely it was hard, but God was letting Ezekiel feel what was in His heart. You can't preach until you know how the heart of God feels. He made Hosea fall in love with a harlot and marry her. She left him and he was grieved. He looked for her and found her for sale and bought her back. Israel played a whore with God and yet He loved her and brought her back. You have to feel what is in the heart of God or you can't be His minister. We have to minister to God first. When your heart comes into union with God's then you will have an effective ministry. Must have a burden for what God has a burden for. The second feature, after the life with God, it must not be a part of existing spiritual conditions. Hannah wasn't a daughter of Belial. She was burdened, wanting new life, not a part of the mess going on out there. Don't be a part of gimmickry to get people's money. It must be in revolt against all that is against what is right. Must weep over conditions that are wrong in the church. Jesus wept over Jerusalem. Jeremiah watched the people come into the temple with their idols and sins in their heart and wept. Does it hurt you the church has been torn down and things are not right? Just because there is a lot of religion doesn't mean there is always a lot of God. We must learn the voice of God for themselves. The Lord never told Eli what He wanted Samuel to do, and from the beginning Samuel had to recognize God's voice himself. We are people of questions. We must be faithful and obedient. We must learn to wait on God. It seemed presumptuous for Samuel to tell Eli who was older and supposed to be wiser, God was going to judge him.

But we must be faithful regardless of what people think. Don't judge by sight. Must be steadfast, stand against what religion makes much of sometimes. Must be a praying vessel. God does nothing except in answer to prayer. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God, but the vessel God uses will be a vessel of prayer. (Jer 15:1) We can't have power with God unless we are people of prayer. We need a personal life with God, separate from existing spiritual conditions, against what God is against, knowing God's voice for himself, and steadfast even when it seems presumptuous, and will be a person of prevailing prayer. Fear nothing but God and hate nothing but sin. We must represent God not ourselves but in order to do that we have to know Him.