Heroes Of The Faith: Patrick The Missionary To Ireland

Heroes of the Faith – Patrick the Missionary to Ireland

Text: Hebrews 11:32-12:2

Well, we’re going to step aside from our study in 1st Corinthians this morning, because over starting next Sunday we’re going to begin focusing our hearts and minds on Resurrection Sunday, and I wanted to lead up to that. But today, we’re going to be looking at something that I hope is encouraging to you all, and that will strengthen you in your Christian walk.

Now some of you may know this, some of you may not, but I home-schooled my daughters. And one of the great things about home-schooling, especially in Oklahoma, is that you’re not bound by the calendar like public schools or private school. You don’t want to do a Spring Break, you don’t have to… or you can even add a few days to it if you need to get caught up in preparing assignments. But another cool thing about that is that you can actually have certain days off from school that you – the parent, feel are important or necessary.

For example; in our home-school, the girls always… well… almost always… got St. Patrick’s Day off. I think sometimes I gave them the option, and they decided to do school on that day. But there were also times when we didn’t.

Now I’m a firm believer that a person should know history. I believe that it’s vitally important that we understand where we came from, the struggles, and challenges our forefathers faced. The decisions they made, and why they made them. It’s just as important – maybe even more so to know Church history. To know the struggles and issues, and challenges of those who have gone on before us in the faith. To know how doctrine developed and why it developed the way it did. To know that men and women of faith have been kept, and sustained, and empowered, and lead by God throughout the ages. It helps us to know and understand that our faith isn’t a novelty. It’s not some fad or phase. But it is something that men and women, down through the ages have held to, and fought for, and even died for. Christianity has stood against all comers for 2000 years – and here we are today.

And when we get right down to it, Church history is a battle for the truth of God’s Word. It’s a long history of the war between the seed of the serpent and the Seed of the woman… it started way back in Genesis, and still going on to this day.

So that’s why, this morning, we’re going to look at Patrick, the missionary to Ireland.

Now I know that everyone calls him Saint Patrick, and he was a saint in the sense of how all believers are saints. The Bible tells us that we are saints, called by God, in Christ Jesus… but he’s not a saint in the sense of the Catholic Church… in-fact; the Catholic Church has never canonized him as a saint. So a better, more accurate way to say it is – Patrick, the missionary to Ireland. And when it comes to his story, the truth is more exciting than the legends.

You’ve probably heard the story that Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland? Well, there were no snakes native to Ireland… that’s not what he did, unless you want to say the “snakes” were pagans and Celtic druids. He did pretty much drive the darkness out of Ireland with the light of the Gospel.

And this holiday we had a couple of days ago… it’s not about wearing green, or leprechauns, or pots of gold. It’s not about drinking Guinness until you turn green. Or river-dancing. Or even saying ‘Top O’ the morn’in to ya’. And even though I’m a Conner McGreggor fan, St. Patrick’s Day isn’t about crazy, red headed, read bearded Irishmen who give us the stereotype of what many in the USA think Irishmen are like.

It’s about a man, who loved God, and was used by God, to do amazing things for God!

Here’s the truth about Patrick. He was born in 385 A.D., in what is now modern day Scotland, and let me just read to you how he opened his autobiography “Confessions”: ‘My name is Patrick, I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers. I am looked down upon by many. My father was Calpornius. He was a deacon; his father was Potitus, a priest, who lived at Bannavem Taburniae. His home was near there, and that is where I was taken prisoner. I was almost 16 at the time.” So that’s how his story began, nearly 16 years old he was kidnapped by Irish pirates, they took him to Ireland sold him as a slave to a Celtic tribal leader – a pagan. He was kept as a slave for 6 years until he finally escaped. While he was a slave, he was forced to keep the sheep for the tribal chief. He was beaten and under-fed, and sometimes forced to sleep outside in all kinds of weather. And it was during that time, that he began to remember the lessons he had learned from his grandfather and father, about Jesus, and about the Bible, and as he recalled the Gospel, he was born again, by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. Now like I said, he did escape, after 6 years, and he returned to Scotland. He went back to school, and finished, and then went to seminary, and after that, he returned to Ireland as a missionary.