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Distorted | Week 4 | Message · Rewind

Rock Point Church

42 min

Pastor Chris Hilken · Jun 30, 2025 · 4 min read · 42 min listen

The big idea

God is not a hidden, gnostic puzzle-master waiting for you to fail His secret plan—He's a potter who redeems and reshapes clay that jumps off the wheel, so His will for your life is relational, not a rigid script you can permanently miss.

In this message

The big idea
Point 1 of 6The 'mad as a hatter' mercury poisoning is a picture of how cultural ideas seep unnoticed into the church.
Point 2 of 6A widespread but unbiblical distortion says God has a hyper-specific hidden will, and one wrong move gets you discarded.

Point 3 of 6Jeremiah 18's potter's house scene reveals God's true character: He reshapes marred clay instead of throwing it in the fire.
Point 4 of 6God's will for you is a rhythm, not a recital.
Point 5 of 6God redeems when we rebel; He does not discard.
Point 6 of 6Our scars are not meant for shame; they're meant for God's glory.
Take it into your week
Transcript

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Scripture in this message

Jeremiah 18
Isaiah 55:8-9
Genesis 2:7
Ephesians 2:8-9
Psalm 103
Psalm 103:7

Rewind AI drafted the Big Idea and some point headings shown here from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Pastor Chris Hilken · Jun 30, 2025 · 42 min watch · 2 min read

Distorted | Week 4 | Message

In this message

Big Idea
Key points
Application

Scripture in this message

Jeremiah 18
Isaiah 55:8-9
Genesis 2:7
Ephesians 2:8-9
Psalm 103
Psalm 103:7

Big Idea Key points Application

Big Idea

God is not a hidden, gnostic puzzle-master waiting for you to fail His secret plan—He's a potter who redeems and reshapes clay that jumps off the wheel, so His will for your life is relational, not a rigid script you can permanently miss.

Many Christians believe God has a hidden, hyper-specific plan for their life and that one wrong decision or sin permanently disqualifies them from it. Jeremiah 18's picture of the potter and the marred clay shows the opposite: God reshapes what jumps off His wheel rather than discarding it. His will is a relationship marked by justice, mercy, and humility, not a tightrope you can fall off forever.</thesis> <parameter name="key_points"> <parameter name="points">[]

Key points

1
1The 'mad as a hatter' mercury poisoning is a picture of how cultural ideas seep unnoticed into the church.
Pastor Chris tells the history of hatmakers being poisoned by mercury nitrate used to waterproof felt hats, causing tremors, hallucinations, and psychosis long before anyone understood why. He uses this as a picture of Martin Luther's two kingdoms—the 'left hand kingdom' of culture and the 'right hand kingdom' of God—and how ideas from the culture we spend 165+ hours a week in can quietly poison our theology.
2
2A widespread but unbiblical distortion says God has a hyper-specific hidden will, and one wrong move gets you discarded.
He cites the statistic that 70% of Christians believe they've failed to follow God's hidden will for their life, whether through their own sin, someone else's sin against them, or just the storms of life—he shares losing his wife to suicide in 2021 as his own storm. This creates anxiety, analysis paralysis, and a 'shell game' view of God deciding our fate.
3
3Jeremiah 18's potter's house scene reveals God's true character: He reshapes marred clay instead of throwing it in the fire.
Pastor Chris walks through Jeremiah going down to the Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna), a place of judgment and refuse, expecting to see broken pottery discarded—but instead watches the potter pick up the marred clay and reform it into another pot. He connects the potter imagery to Genesis 2:7 and Ephesians 2:8-10, showing we are God's handiwork, and to Israel's story as a pattern for how God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
4
4God's will for you is a rhythm, not a recital.
Using the image of a dance recital where every step must be hit exactly versus a father giving his daughter open-handed rules at a wedding dance floor, he explains that God's revealed will—do justice, love mercy, walk humbly (Micah 6:8)—applies across almost any vocation. The question isn't 'teacher or plumber or pastor' but whether you do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly in whichever one you choose.
5
5God redeems when we rebel; He does not discard.
He points to Psalm 37 and Romans 11:29 to show God's gifts and calling are irrevocable, and no sin outsins the grace of the cross. He shares a C.S. Lewis quote about not setting ourselves up as a higher tribunal than God by refusing to accept His forgiveness, naming that refusal as pride rather than piety.
6
6Our scars are not meant for shame; they're meant for God's glory.
Pastor Chris explains that a good God would simply bury our mistakes and never mention them again, but a better God uses the cracks and fractures to bring others to know Him. He describes turning the enemy's reminders of past failure into testimony, echoing the healed blind man's line, 'I once was blind and now I see,' and ties it to Revelation's picture of overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.

Application

Pastor Chris frames the charge around the dance floor he gave his daughter: God gave rules, not a rigid recital, so live inside do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly wherever you are.

Stop treating God's will as a tightrope
If you believe one wrong decision or sin has knocked you permanently off God's plan, recognize that belief as a cultural distortion rather than what the Bible teaches.
Pursue justice, mercy, and humility in your calling
Whatever job or path you choose—teacher, plumber, pastor—ask whether you're doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly there, rather than searching for one hidden 'correct' occupation.
Let God forgive you instead of overruling Him
If God calls you forgiven, accept it rather than moping or punishing yourself further, which the sermon names as setting yourself up as a higher judge than God.
Turn your past failures into testimony
When shame from past mistakes resurfaces, respond by thanking God for how He redeemed that moment, using it to show others His goodness instead of hiding it.

Take it into your week

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“If you have your bibles, we're gonna be in Jeremiah chapter 18 to start out with and this series is really interesting to me because what it does is it kind of pulls back the curtain”
From the transcript
“Isaiah 50 five:eight-nine, His ways are superior to our ways nor our thoughts the same as his thoughts. The heavens are higher than the earth so God is superior to all things”
From the transcript
“That word for potter right there is the same word that's used in Genesis chapter two verse seven where it says, God formed mankind out of the dust of the earth”
From the transcript
“The book of Ephesians chapter two verse eight and nine powerful salvific passage says this, it is by grace you have been saved. That's God's unmerited favor. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith not of yourselves”
From the transcript
“the Psalmist tells us in Psalm chapter 103 that the stories of Moses and the Israelite people are meant to demonstrate to us the character of God”
From the transcript
“He has made known his ways to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel. This is what Psalm 103 verse seven tells us”
From the transcript
“that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Hebrews chapter 13 verse eight tells us this, Numbers 23 verse 19, who is God that he should change his character”
From the transcript
“Hebrews chapter 13 verse eight tells us this, Numbers 23 verse 19, who is God that he should change his character? Who is he that he should lie? He does not do any of those things”
From the transcript
“this is the analogy that Paul uses in Romans chapter nine, it's the same analogy he uses in second Corinthians chapter four that we are these vessels of clay”
From the transcript
“it's the same analogy he uses in second Corinthians chapter four that we are these vessels of clay, then we can expect in the same sense when we kick off the wheel of God's will”
From the transcript
“Micah chapter six verse eight says, God has shown you a man what is good and what the Lord requires and wants for your life and it is this, it's threefold. Do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with the Lord your God”
From the transcript
“here's what the Psalmist tells us in Psalm 37, the Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him. Though he may stumble, he will not fall for the Lord upholds him with his hands”
From the transcript
“Romans 11 verse 29, for the God's gifts and his calling on your life are irrevocable. What does that mean? If he's called you to something, he's equipped you to accomplish it”
From the transcript
“Proverbs three:five-six, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will do what? Make your path straight”
From the transcript
“when God has called us to his great mission, Matthew 28, make disciples of all nations”
From the transcript
“Second Corinthians five seventeen, if anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come”
From the transcript
“In Romans chapter eight thirty eight and thirty nine, nothing can take me away from your hands because I'm found in the love of Christ Jesus, our Lord”

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

Sign in to track your progress through this devotional.

Day 1

There is a moment in Jeremiah 18 that stops you cold. The potter is working, the clay is spinning, and something goes wrong — the vessel is marred. What happens next is the whole point: the potter doesn't throw the clay away. He doesn't walk off in disgust. He simply starts again, shaping the clay into something new. Pastor Chris pointed to this image not as a quaint Sunday school picture but as a direct window into how God relates to people who have veered off course. The clay that has been pressed, misshapen, or even collapsed on the wheel is still in the potter's hands. That's not a small thing. It means God's first move toward a broken life is not judgment and disposal — it is patient, purposeful reshaping. If you have been carrying the weight of a season where things fell apart — a decision you regret, a habit that cost you, a relationship that unraveled — this image is an invitation to let the Potter's hands back in. You are not disqualified. You are not discarded. You are still on the wheel. The same hands that formed humanity from dust in Genesis 2:7 are the hands that hold you now. They have not gone anywhere, and they have not given up.

For reflection

Where in your life have you been acting as though God has already set you aside — and what would it look like to let Him back in as the potter today?

Pray

Pray for a willingness to let God's hands work on the areas of your life you have been protecting out of shame or fear.

Day 2

One of the most freeing ideas Pastor Chris put forward is this: God's will for your life is not a hidden tightrope stretched across a chasm, where one wrong step sends you falling permanently. It is something far more generous than that. Micah 6:8 names it plainly — do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God. That is the revealed will. Not a secret script. Not a single specific career, city, or relationship you might have already missed. A rhythm. A posture. A way of moving through life with God. This doesn't mean choices don't matter — they absolutely do. But it does mean that inside a life oriented toward justice, mercy, and humble dependence on God, there is genuinely wide, good territory. The anxiety that comes from treating God's will like an impossible puzzle to solve before you're allowed to move — that anxiety is not from Him. Proverbs 3:5-6 echoes this: trust Him with all your heart, lean into Him rather than your own understanding, and He will direct your paths. The path is something He guides you on, not a hidden map you had to find on your own. Almost every honest life decision you make, made with these three things as your compass, can be the right one.

For reflection

Is there a decision you are currently paralyzed over — and how might framing it through the lens of justice, mercy, and humility change how you approach it?

Pray

Pray for the freedom to make honest, faith-filled decisions without the fear that one wrong turn will permanently disqualify you from God's purposes.

Day 3

One of the quiet anchors of Pastor Chris's sermon was a truth that doesn't always get the spotlight it deserves: God doesn't change. Hebrews 13:8 says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That's not just a statement about His existence — it's a statement about His character. The patience He showed to wayward Israel in Jeremiah's day is the same patience He extends today. The grace He showed to the people who failed Him most publicly in the pages of Scripture — that grace hasn't been revised or reduced. Numbers 23:19 adds the same note from a different angle: God is not a man who lies or changes His mind. His promises don't expire. His redemptive instinct doesn't cool off. This matters because many of us unconsciously assume that God's kindness toward us in the past was conditional on our continued performance — that we've since used it up or worn it out. But that's a very human way of thinking about a very un-human God. His track record of redeeming broken people isn't an exception He made once or twice. It is who He is. When your past rises up to tell you that God is now different toward you than He once was, Hebrews 13:8 is a steady, quiet answer: He is not.

For reflection

In what area of your life have you been treating God's patience as something you have already exhausted — and what does His unchanging character say to that belief?

Pray

Pray for a deeper trust in the unchanging character of God, especially in places where past failure has made you doubt His consistency toward you.

Day 4

Pastor Chris was direct about this: no sin you have committed has out-sinned the grace of the cross. Romans 11:29 gives that conviction a concrete foundation — God's gifts and His calling are irrevocable. That word matters. Irrevocable means it cannot be called back. Not because of your performance. Not contingent on whether you have stayed perfectly on track. The calling God placed on your life did not come with a return policy that your failures could activate. This does not minimize the real consequences of sin — actions shape us, and some wounds take a long time to heal. But there is a difference between living with consequences and being permanently disqualified from purpose. The sermon made clear that God's redemptive work is not a second-rate plan He switches to when Plan A fails. It is the plan. He is a God who redeems when we rebel, who reshapes what has been marred, who gives back more than was lost. Ephesians 2:8-9 reminds us that salvation itself — the entire basis of our standing before God — was never ours to earn or ours to lose by effort. What God gives, He gives from His own character, not as a reward for our flawless execution. Your calling is still on the table.

For reflection

Is there a gifting, a calling, or a purpose you have quietly stopped believing is still available to you because of something in your past — and what would it look like to hold that out to God again?

Pray

Pray for the courage to receive God's calling as irrevocable, even in the areas where failure has made you feel disqualified.

Day 5

Pastor Chris said something that is both freeing and genuinely convicting: refusing to receive God's forgiveness — clinging to shame after He has already declared you forgiven — is not humility. It is pride. That's worth sitting with. When we insist on continuing to punish ourselves for what God has already covered, we are, in effect, placing our own verdict above His. Second Corinthians 5:17 says that if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation — the old has gone, the new has come. Not partially gone. Not still pending God's final review. Gone. The enemy of your soul is not creative; he tends to return to the same old footage of your worst moments and replay it until you agree that it defines you. But a new creation is not defined by its old footage. The sermon framed it this way: receiving forgiveness fully is not the soft option. It actually takes more courage than staying in shame, because staying in shame at least feels like you're doing something — paying a debt. But that debt has already been paid. The invitation today is not to feel better about yourself. It is to agree with what God has already said about you in Christ. That agreement is an act of faith, and it is what actually allows you to move forward.

For reflection

Is there a specific sin or failure you have been holding onto in shame even after bringing it to God — and what would it mean to agree with His verdict rather than your own?

Pray

Pray for the grace to receive God's forgiveness fully — not as an excuse to coast, but as the honest foundation for a new chapter.

Day 6

Related passage

Revelation 12:11 says they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. Pastor Chris landed here at the close of the sermon, and it reframes everything that came before. Your past failures are not meant to be buried in shame — they are meant to be offered as testimony. The scars are not the end of the story; they are the evidence of the story. When your past is thrown in your face — by your own memory, by an accuser, by someone who knew you at your worst — the move is not denial, and it is not agreement. It is redirection: yes, and God redeemed me anyway. That is not spin. That is the most honest thing you can say, and it is also the thing that points people most directly toward Jesus. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4 about carrying treasure in jars of clay — the weakness is not the problem, it's the point, so that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. The cracks in the jar are actually what let the light through. Whatever you have been through, whatever you are not proud of, God is not asking you to perform as though it never happened. He is asking you to let it become part of how He tells His story through you.

For reflection

What is one part of your story — something you have mostly kept hidden — that God might want to use as a testimony of His redemption in your life?

Pray

Pray for the boldness to offer your story, scars and all, as something God can use to point others toward Jesus.

Day 7

Coming back to where the week began — not to circle back to the same verse, but to pick up the whole thread and hold it together. The single biggest shift this sermon invites is a movement away from anxious striving toward trusting relationship. God's will is not a minefield of divine specifics you might have already detonated. It is a life shaped by justice, mercy, and humble walking with Him — and that life is available to you now, today, whatever your history looks like. The potter is still at the wheel. His character has not changed. His gifts and calling on your life are irrevocable. He has declared you a new creation. Your testimony is not a liability — it is a weapon against hopelessness in someone else's life. Psalm 103 puts it this way: He does not treat us as our sins deserve, and as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Romans 8:38-39 closes the door on any remaining doubt: nothing — not death, not life, not things present, not things to come — can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. The question for the rest of your life is not whether you are still on the wheel. You are. The question is whether you will let the Potter work.

For reflection

Looking back over this week, what is one concrete way you want to live differently — in your time, your relationships, or your testimony — because of what you've heard and reflected on?

Pray

Pray for the ongoing courage to live inside God's revealed will — doing justice, loving mercy, walking humbly — and to trust Him with everything the future holds.

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

This message takes a hard look at a fear many people carry quietly: that somewhere along the way, a mistake or a season of wandering has permanently knocked them off God's plan. Let's dig into what Pastor Chris Hilken brought from Scripture about who God actually is — and what He actually does — when the clay kicks off the wheel.

Discussion questions

1
In Jeremiah 18:1-6, the potter doesn't throw away the marred clay — he picks it up and reshapes it. What does that image tell us about how God responds when people wander from His purposes?
2
Pastor Chris Hilken pointed to Micah 6:8 — do justice, love mercy, walk humbly — as the shape of God's revealed will, rather than a hidden, highly specific script we have to decode. How does framing God's will that way change the way we might think about making decisions in everyday life?
3
Pastor Chris described holding onto shame after God has declared someone forgiven not as humility but as pride — setting yourself up as a higher judge than God. What does 2 Corinthians 5:17 suggest about how God actually sees someone who has come to Him?
4
Romans 11:29 says God's gifts and calling are irrevocable. How does that truth push back against the idea that a past failure has permanently disqualified someone from being used by God?
5
Pastor Chris Hilken pointed to Revelation 12:11 — that the church overcomes by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. What might it look like for a community of people to actually use their stories of redemption that way, rather than keeping them hidden out of shame?
Related passage
6
Hebrews 13:8 says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Pastor Chris grounded the whole message in that immutability — the character God showed toward wayward Israel is the same character He shows today. How does the consistency of God's character shape the way we bring our failures or fears to Him?

Pray together

Thankfulness that God's response to a marred and wandering people is to reshape rather than discard — and openness to receiving that fully

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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Distorted

Week 4 · 7 messages

Where these passages are preached

Jeremiah 18 Isaiah 55 Genesis 2 Ephesians 2

Explore related topics

God's Will Redemption After Failure Shame and Forgiveness Testimony and Scars The Potter and Clay

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