Amazing Grace Story.

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Today, I wanna share to you about an amazing story of a man whose view of God changed radically and as a result, his life changed radically as well. Perhaps you have heard this man's story so many times before, but let me tell you this story again as I was very blessed the moment I encountered this amazing grace story of John Newton.

John Newton was born in 1975 in England. His mother was a devoted christian, and intending for her son(John Newton) to enter the ministry. She worked hard to instill the a deep faith in him. But eventually, Newton's mother died before his seventh birthday. As a young Newton, he decided to follow in his father's footsteps, as Newton's father was an English sea captain. He joined the British Royal Navy but was eventually discharged because of unruly behaviour. To get away from the problem, he moved to the western coast of Africa and worked for a slave trader. He eventually became the captain of a slave ship, and like most slave ship captains, he treated his slaves ruthlessly. What a bad man he had become and what a terribly far cry from his mother's hopes and prayers for him!

On one voyage, a fierce storm severely struck Newton's ship. Sure that he would die. Newton surrendered his life to God. Miraculously he survived and he decided to set his life to a new course. A course Jesus intends all of us to follow or to set our life to. At first he remained as a slave ship captain. But he tried to treat the slaves more humanely. It did not take that long until he decided to gave up the slave trade entirely. What's more, he went on to a passionately crusade against slavery. Newton's life was changed so profoundly that he studied to become a minister, just as his mother had prayed. He came to be known as "the old converted sea captain". And this was all because he had personally met and come to know God.

Probably the most famous thing Newton did was to write the hymn "Amazing Grace". In it he described his own transgression:

Amazing grace how sweet the sound

that saved a wretch like me

I once was lost, but now am found,

was blind but now I see.

Sometimes we feel inside of us that we are OK. We don't care about our relationships to other. We do not care what's happening to us. We do not even notice that we are now breaking the very heart of God. And when we come to this point of giving God no pleasure and heartache, He disciplines us like what He did to John Newton on his voyage, like what fathers do to their sons telling "Hey son, that not right anymore." Until we see ourselves helpless, hopeless, restless and left nothing to do but surrender our whole being to God. The Good thing about it is that we can only find complete happiness, quietness, and complete satisfying love in God alone by having deep and intimate relationship with Him.

"Surrendering to God is not BEST way to live, it is the ONLY way to live. If you don't surrender to God, you surrender to chaos" - Pastor Rick Warren.