Have Your Own Way Lord - TCJ - E-Sermon (Printed)

 Have Your Own Way, Lord!  Jeremiah 18:1-6

Someone has written: "In every successful marriage relationship, the man always has the last word. "Yes Dear!"

In our relationship with God, in all that He wants us to be, and to do, our response should be “Yes Lord!”

 I remember growing up, singing the hymn

“Have Thine Own Way” in church.

1. The Words are by Adelaide Pollard, who was planning to go to Africa as a missionary, but did not have the financial support to go.
2. She was very discouraged, and then one night at a prayer meeting, and elderly woman said this prayer, that gave her a different perspective on things: The elderly woman prayed “It’s all right, Lord! It doesn’t matter what You bring into our lives. Just have Your own way with us!”
3. From that prayer Adelaide wrote a poem that became a well known hymn: “Thou art the Potter, I am the clay, Mold me and make me after Thy will, while I am waiting,  yielded and still.”
4. Eventually, In God’s time, He allowed Adelaide Pollard to minister in Africa, England, and across the United States.

Theme: In Jeremiah 18:1-6 we find the Lord speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, and using the example of the Potter and the clay, to speak to the people of Judah concerning their relationship with Him, and how things can be made right again. Let’s look at two aspects of this example, and apply it to our lives today:

 THE PROBLEM WITH A LIFE THAT RESISTS

(Jeremiah 18:1-4)

Jeremiah watched intently as the workman shaped the clay.

1. What did the Potter see? A flaw in the making.
2. Instead of throwing it away, he reworked it.
3. God told Jeremiah he would do the same with Judah.

God wants to do the same with us.

1. Notice something about the potter and his wheel.
2. A potter must be willing to get his hands into the clay.
3. God is involved with His creation—and God is involved with us. He does not stand at arm’s length from His work.
4. He gets His fingers and hands into it.
5. He saw that we needed a Savior to rescue us from our sin, so He sent His Son Jesus Christ to give His life in our place (Jn. 3:16; Ti. 2:14).

“ Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

1. That is a promise from the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Why not submit to His will, and be blessed by His work.

 Julie Acherman Link: Here in Michigan we joke that we have two seasons: winter and road construction.

1. Harsh winters damage road surfaces, so repair crews begin their work as soon as the ice melts and the ground thaws.
2. Although we call this work “construction,” much of what they do looks like “destruction.”
3. In some cases, simply patching holes is not an option.
4. Workers have to replace the old road with a new one.
5. We are clay that needs to be worked, and blessed by the mighty hand of God in our lives.

 Ill. The Gloves: Useless, until God put’s His hands in them.

THE POTENTIAL OF A LIFE THAT RESPONDS

(Jeremiah 18:5-6)

Jeremiah reveals an incontestable sovereignty over us.

1. It is absurd for us as (the clay) to quarrel with the potter.
2. It is a very easy thing with God to make us what He wills.
3. One turn of the hand, and one turn of the wheel to change and remake us as vessels in His hand.

God asks the nation of Israel (through Jeremiah) “O house of Israel, can I not do with you, as this potter”

1. Q. to us today: “Can I not do with you, as this potter?
2. God sees in us the potential for change, renewal, improvement! 

 Louis Armstrong – a famous trumpet player and entertainer, in childhood knew want and pain.

1. He was abandoned by his father as an infant and sent to reform school when he was only 12.
2. Surprisingly, this became a positive turning point.

Music professor Peter Davis regularly visited the school and provided musical training for the boys.

1. Soon Louis excelled on the cornet and became the leader of the boys’ band. His life trajectory seemed to have been reset to become a world-famous trumpet player and entertainer. Let’s stop trying to do what God can do…. in us, and through us!

 Let’s be cooperative clay, and let God Have His Way!