On New Year’s Eve, we watched the DVD, Amazing Grace about the life of William Wilberforce, and his journey to end the Slave Trade in Britian.  Mr. Wilberforce had found himself drawn back to our Savior, Jesus Christ and he often sought counsel from his pastor, John Newton, a former slave ship captain that had turned to God and devoted the remainder of his life to serving him.  Many may not know John Newton but most will know the song that he penned about his salvation and the Mercy of Christ and the favor God showed on Newton, Amazing Grace. 

During one dialogue between Wilberforce and Newton late in the movie, he turned to Wilberforce, blind with age and said, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things, that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Saviour.”

What a simple but extremely powerful statement!!!  I have thought about this since I watched the movie, and I’ve concluded that this statement by a former slave ship captain says more than most sermons I’ve heard preached in my lifetime.  It really is that simple isn’t it?  We can know every word in the Bible, every story ever written, pray all day long and attend church everytime the doors open but it all means nothing if we don’t realize that we are great sinners and Christ is a great Savior, and that we are totally dependent on His Grace and Mercy.

If for some reason you doubt this then please read this testimony from Audrey in Ubauna, Brazil:

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Holy Sardines vs. Voodoo People (by Joe Carr)

Early on Christmas morning (6:30!) I received what at first appeared to be a frantic phone call from Audrey. Here’s what he said:

I just had to call to let you know what happened late yesterday (Christmas Eve)! Some of the kids who come the the children’s worship every Saturday come from families that have macumba (voodoo) temples. We knew they were needy and took some of the Christmas baskets to them yesterday.

They were really quite perplexed, wanting to know why we were doing this. I mean, it’s kind of like them vs. us. We told them that their kids love Jesus and are so excited to learn about him and worship him. We also knew that they were having a difficult time financially. We knew how much Jesus loves them and so we wanted to help out with no strings attached.

If you could have seen just seen their faces!

You’ll never guess what happened?

They wanted to know more about this Jesus we talked about — he was so different than the one they had heard about from other Christians. The end result is that they accepted him on the spot and declared that from that moment forward that their macumba terreiros (voodoo temples) were closed! This was not just one case, but TWO separate cases!

And you thought that you were simply trying to give some hungry kids some beans, rice and sardines!

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Yes, Lord, I am a great sinner and You are a Great Savior!!!