Do YOU recognize that God is sovereign in our lives and that he has His own will for every single one of us? If so, think about how you respond to trials. Do these match each other? This test of faith is related to the first one we talked about–TRIALS. So if you do recognize that He is sovereign, it’s about time to put what we believe into our actions when faced with difficult situations
– R & N
John Newton had his own “Call of Duty”. He received this call of duty from the Lord. This was the third test of his genuine faith in the Lord that parallels to what we’ve studied in the book of James.
In 1764, Newton became pastorate of the Church of England parish in Olney for 16 years. When he was 54, he then began his 27 year ministry at St. Mary’s Woolnoth. His hearing and eyesight began to fail him, but he continued preaching
Richard Cecil suggested to him that he stop preaching when he turned eighty years old, but Newton responded with, “What! Shall the old African blasphemer stop while he can speak?”
One of his sermons and responses to his own letters revealed his profound knowledge in God’s will for him. It was called How to Know the Will of God. Newton mentions that knowing God’s will of God will cause us to fully submit to Him, which was discussed in class from James 4:15. “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” This is the mindset that James believed that Christians today should have, and John MacArthur mentions that it is part of God’s will for us to be submissive to Him.
In James 4:14 it states, “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” This passage illustrates just how in control God is over our lives; he can take away everything he’s given us, our existence, all in an instant of time. In John Newton’s life, he faced many trials, one of which was his near death experience on the ship, as mentioned before in a previous post. This was one of the reasons why he accepted God into his heart–because he realized how sovereign God was in his life.
John Newton mentioned in this sermon as well, “The plans of our operations may, for aught I know, be well laid, according to human wisdom, and our generals and admirals well qualified and supported to carry them into execution; but I am afraid the Lord God of Hosts is but little acknowledged or thought of in our counrcils, fleets, or armies.”
– R & N
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John Newton 
