The Power to Serve in Difficult Times — Potter's House Study Guide

About This Message

Sunday morning, the walk through John reached chapter 13. Pastor Roy Jones opened in worship — and in testimony. He told how God gave him the name Potter's House at the potter's house: "Don't preach politics, don't preach rumors, don't preach fables — preach the Word," because the Word is the only thing that will change a life, shake you, and deliver you. He told how the enemy nearly caught him off guard at a gas station that week — and how the Spirit's question, "Who are you?", brought him back in about two minutes. Then the congregation stood for the reading, John 13:1–17, and he gave the morning its topic in his own words: the power to serve in difficult times — the power, no matter what you're facing or going through, to still walk in your calling. The first twelve chapters showed Jesus's public ministry; chapters 13–17 cover the last hours of His life — and in those hours, He didn't withdraw. He served.

The Word — John 13

1Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

2And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him,

3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God,

John 13:1–3 (NKJV)

4rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.

5After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

John 13:4–5 (NKJV)

6Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?”

7Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”

8Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”

9Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”

John 13:6–9 (NKJV)

10Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.”

11For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.”

John 13:10–11 (NKJV)

12So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?

13You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.

14If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

John 13:12–14 (NKJV)

15For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.

16Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.

17If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

John 13:15–17 (NKJV)

2“Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.”

6“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the LORD. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!

Jeremiah 18:2, 6 (NKJV)

29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

John 1:29 (NKJV)

21make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Hebrews 13:21 (NKJV)

7But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 1:7 (NKJV)

14I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.

Psalm 139:14 (NKJV)

7In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

Ephesians 1:7 (NKJV)

22But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

2 Peter 2:22 (NKJV)

37Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

38Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

Matthew 9:37–38 (NKJV)

The Message in a Sentence

Jesus knew His hour had come. Within a day He would be betrayed by a friend at the table, deserted by the rest, beaten, and crucified — and knowing all of it, He rose from supper, laid aside His garments, tied a towel around His waist, and washed feet, including the feet of the man already plotting to sell Him. Pastor Jones's word: that is kingdom power. Not power over people — the power to serve people in your most difficult time. It doesn't come from your feelings, because your feelings will tell you to take care of yourself. It comes from knowing who you are and whose you are, from a God who equips the ones He sends, and it lands in a mandate with no excuses left: the servant is not greater than his Master — so if it was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for us, and the blessing is in the doing.

The Arc of the Message

Opening — The Potter, the Shout, and Getting Back

He began where this church began: "I am what I am because God is shaping and molding me." The potter has the say over the clay — and when God birthed this ministry, He named it Potter's House and charged its pulpit with one thing: the Word. Then the shout — the same kind of shout that rose when Jesus rode into Jerusalem and John cried, "Behold! The Lamb of God" — and a testimony from that week: a mix-up at a gas pump, a stranger pumping gas on his card, anger rising after twenty-some years of nobody pushing him to that level… and the Spirit asking, "Who are you, son?" Maturity, he said, is how fast you get back. Some of us take three or four days. That day, it took about two minutes.

Development — The Last Hours, and a Towel

Chapters 1–12 were Jesus's ministry to the crowds; chapters 13–17 are the final hours, and His focus turns to the ones who will carry the ministry when He leaves. He could have gone off alone to pray and prepare. Instead He served — and He served from identity: verse 3 says He knew the Father had given all things into His hands, that He had come from God and was going to God. At the same table, the disciples were arguing about position, about who would be greatest. Jesus answered the argument with a basin. Foot-washing was the lowest servant's job in the house — and the Lord of glory took it, then turned Peter's resistance into the cleansing teaching: only the washing of Jesus gives you a part with Him; bathed once in His blood, you're clean through and through. And for everyone who feels the assignment is too hard, Hebrews says it plainly: He has already equipped you, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight.

Landing — No Excuses, and a Harvest Waiting

He closed with the mandate in verses 16–17. Jesus didn't ask their permission; He told them their duty: you call Me Teacher and Lord — and so I am — and if I washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's. A servant is never greater than his master, so nobody gets an excuse: not your feelings, not your season, not what they did to you. "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them" — the blessing is on the doing side. And then the doors: the harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few. God is looking for servants.

Key Points

Jesus served at the hardest hour of His life. He knew Judas had already made his deal, knew the rest would run and desert Him, knew the cross was hours away. He did not withdraw to be alone with the Father — He took the time to serve, so the ones who would carry the ministry would become servants to others. Service is very important in the body of Christ: knowing how to serve, how to love, how to look past what folks have done to you and said about you, and let it go.

The power to serve comes from knowing who you are. Verse 3: Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going back to God — that's when He picked up the towel. "I'm not worried about how people see me. I don't have to prove anything. I know how God sees me." When you know that God has given it to you, you're not worried about what the devil plotted. Your identity is not in the world; it's in Him — and true kingdom power comes from knowing who you are and where you're going.

Humility takes the lowest place in the house. In that culture, feet were washed by the lowest-ranked servant — the job nobody respected. Jesus, the Lord Himself, took the lowest position so He could serve the people around Him. Meanwhile the disciples were arguing over seating and rank, the way we still do: everybody's got to be first, everybody's got to be above everybody else. But if you humble yourself, God knows how to exalt you. You don't have to sit at the head of the table — it's enough that your name is written on the roll in heaven.

Serve through your feelings — feelings don't get a vote. We live in a culture that says when times get hard, when you're running on empty, slow down and take care of yourself; don't push to help somebody when you need help yourself. But Jesus is telling us we will face situations where we're exhausted, and we've got to find the strength anyway, because somebody is counting on us. Your human body won't give you that power — it's a divine, supernatural power God gives you that causes you to forget about yourself and put other folks above you. Emotions don't have anything to do with it. It's about the heart. It's about the calling.

Serve the ones who wronged you — yes, even them. Jesus washed Judas's feet knowing exactly what Judas was about to do. God is challenging us in the kingdom: know how to help folks even when you know what they've said about you — and when they come asking for help, they don't need to hear all that. Don't let feelings and emotions talk you out of your calling. And remember the sowing law: God gives seed to the sower, and what you give out has a way of coming back to you increased — maybe not from the same people, but God knows how to send somebody.

God equips the ones He sends. Hebrews 13:21: He makes you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight. If God sent you, He has already equipped you — you cannot fail. Sometimes you won't even know how you're doing what you're doing; you start putting things together and God works it out in you. Early in his ministry, Pastor Jones's preaching didn't satisfy everybody else — but it was never about everybody else being satisfied. It was about God being satisfied with the gift He gave. Thank God for choosing you for the job.

The servant is not greater than the Master — so there's no excuse left. "Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master." If the Master went that low to pick somebody up, to pull somebody out of the muck and the mire, how can we say we can't? If it was good enough for the Creator of the universe, the King of glory — isn't it good enough for us? And verse 17 puts a condition on the blessing: "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." Knowing isn't the blessing. Doing is.

In His Own Words

"Sometimes you gotta stop and recognize yourself."

"You gotta serve through your feelings. Serve through your emotions."

"If it was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me."

"I've been washed. I got a new heart, a new way of talking, a new way of loving, a new way of serving."

Illustrations From the Message

The Gas Station

Pastor Jones told it himself. He stopped for gas — put his card in, put his number in, like always — and when he reached for the hose, there was no hose on his pump. Across the way, a man was pumping gas… on Pastor Jones's card. Eight dollars and fifty cents' worth. The man refused to hear him; the attendant lady tried to explain and he wouldn't listen to her either. And Pastor Jones felt something rise up in him he hadn't felt in twenty-some years — "I was about to give him that $8.50," he said, "and not the money." Then the Spirit of God said, "Who are you, son?" Nobody pushed any buttons. He got back where he needed to be — apologized to the brother, explained himself calmly, and the attendant fixed it: "We're going to fix it." The lady told him afterward she'd seen his car around and knew his team; she recognized the right spirit in him. His point: the enemy will catch you off guard. The question is how long it takes you to get back. For some of us it's three or four days. That day, by the Spirit's check, it was about two minutes.

The Long Day

You know the day, he said. Fourteen jobs. You're exhausted; you're tired; you got a thousand things done and when you get home, this last part of the day belongs to you. The moment you get out of your car, the moment you walk in the house — your phone rings. And it's not just anybody: it's a founding member, a close coworker, a close friend, and they desperately need your help. You're already spent. Your body says no. But somewhere, you've got to find some energy — you've got to pull yourself together and be there for the one who's counting on you. Here's the strange part, he said: as long as you're up working and taking care of things, you hold up fine. It's when you finally stop that you feel like you can't even make it to the door. God is telling us: find the strength when God's people need help — the same way Jesus has served us, never leaving us nor forsaking us.

SOIL — Go Deeper This Week

S — Scripture: Read John 13:3–5 slowly. Before Jesus ever touched the water, what did He know (v. 3)? What does knowing it have to do with picking up a towel?

O — Observation: Jesus washed Judas's feet — with verse 2 in view: the devil had already put the betrayal into Judas's heart, and Jesus knew it. What does that one detail do to your list of reasons not to serve somebody?

I — Interpretation: Set verse 10 ("He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean") beside 1 John 1:7. What's the difference between the bath and the foot washing — and why does Jesus correct Peter's "wash all of me"?

L — Life application: Name one person who has wronged you or talked about you whom God might ask you to serve this week. What would serving them look like — without rehearsing what they did?

Dig a Little Deeper

1. At the table, the disciples were arguing about who would be greatest while Jesus was tying on a towel. Where in your own life — home, work, church — are you still arguing for a seat while somebody near you needs a servant?

2. Pastor Jones got back in the right spirit at that gas pump in about two minutes; he said for some of us it takes three or four days. The last time the enemy caught you off guard, how long did it take you to get back — and what would have to change for it to be two minutes?

3. Verse 17: "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." What do you already know — from this very passage — that you have not yet done?

This Week's Challenge

Once this week, when you are the tired one — empty, spent, the one who needs help — serve somebody else first, before you rest: one concrete act, for one person who is counting on you. And if someone who has wronged you asks for something, give it without mentioning what they did.

Closing Prayer

Father, we are the clay and You are the potter — shape us in Your hands until we look like servants. Thank You for washing us clean in the blood of Jesus, completely clean, and for calling us back quickly when we slip. Give us the power Jesus had in His hardest hour: to lay our feelings aside, take the lowest place, and serve — even the ones who wronged us, even when we're running on empty. You equipped us when You sent us; now work in us what is well pleasing in Your sight. The harvest is plentiful, Lord. Make us laborers who do what we know. In Jesus's name, amen.

For Review — References to Confirm

Three references from this morning were carried by the teaching without being named outright. Each is flagged in place above with its basis:

Psalm 139:14 — "fearful" and "crafted by His hands" in the opening testimony.
Ephesians 1:7 — "redeemed us through His blood… according to the riches of His grace."
2 Peter 2:22 — the dog returning to its vomit and the washed sow returning to the mire.

Confirmed references named or quoted directly by Pastor Jones: John 13:1–17 (the reading); Jeremiah 18:2 (quoted — "Arise and go down to the potter's house"); John 1:29 (the Lamb of God shout); Hebrews 13:21 (cited by chapter and verse); 1 John 1:7 (the blood cleanses us); Matthew 9:37–38 (the closing — the harvest is plentiful).