A storm off the Irish coast, a sinking ship, and a sailor praying for the first time in years, this is how the story of John Newton, author of ‘Amazing Grace’, begins, though what happened next looks nothing like the legend. That story leads into Jesus’ parables in the Gospel of Mark (Mark 4), the lamp, the seed growing by itself, and the mustard seed, about a Kingdom that starts small and grows by the power of God himself. The sermon asks whether God’s Word truly changes a person, and what a handful of believers can do in a world full of evil. Listen and discover how much depends on whether, and how, you listen.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- Jesus speaks of a lamp placed on a stand and of a measure, and between these images comes the sentence: "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear." What do both images teach about how to listen to His word?
- How might the parable of the mustard seed (Mark 4:32) have sounded to the handful of disciples in Galilee and to the Christians hiding in Rome who first heard Mark's Gospel?
- John Newton read the Bible and studied theology, yet for years he kept profiting from the slave trade. What does his story tell you about how God's word changes a person?
- The sermon says that how much we learn depends on our listening, but the growth of the kingdom in us depends on God. How does this truth shape your expectations of your own transformation?
- When you look at wars, persecution and corruption, where does the thought come from that a small community of Christians can change nothing, and how does the story of Newton and Wilberforce answer that doubt?
- What specific step can you take this week to listen more attentively to God's word and let it shine into an area of your life you have kept in the shadows?
