Back to Blog
How to Read the Bible4/2/2020 Get a GOOD translation. Good ones are: NKJV, KJV, NASB, ESV
0 Comments
Read More
Back to Blog
Spread the Word, Not the Virus!3/22/2020 Hopefully you've viewed the video of our first "virtual meeting" for March 20, 2020. The point to learn in this time is to be filled with faith and not fear. Being in the Word will do you much better than constantly viewing the news.
Back to Blog
Happy St. Patrick's Day3/17/2020 I don't know the source for this, but here it is... THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE MISSIONARY For those of you who have never heard, here’s the real story of St Patrick: Long before leprechauns, four leaf clovers and pots of gold, the legend of a man sold out to the purposes of God, burning with a missional fire, rang true across the pages of history. Patrick. In a pagan nation, shrouded in darkness and ruled by druids and violent clans, one man courageously challenged the belief system of generations and in one act of defiance, changed the course of a nation. Patrick lit a fire and a revival that would usher Christianity into the Emerald Isle. Who was this man who became the patron saint of Ireland? By all historical accounts, Patrick was raised in Great Britain. Probably along the coast of either Scotland or Wales, in the early 400’s AD. He was born into a Christian family and a family of privilege. His father was a deacon; his grandfather a priest, but Patrick says that from an early age, he didn't have any serious interest in religion and that he was pratically an atheist when he was a teenager. Around this time, raiding parties, with warriors known as the "Picts," would land somewhere on the coast, and if the place was inhabited, would usually do a "smash and grab job" of looting – young people, animals, clothes, weapons, etc. – These parties were able to run inland for about three miles non-stop, while leaving a handful of men to guard their vessels. On one such raid, young Patrick was snatched from his village and thrown onto a ship headed for Ireland, as a slave. He was only 16 at the time. Patrick was sold to a chieftain named Milchu. He spent six years tending his master's flocks on the slopes of the Slemish Mountains in the northern province of Antrim. Patrick recounts his time as a slave in his memoir entitled The Confession. 'I prayed a hundred times in the day and almost as many at night.’ Patrick, although a hardened unbeliever in his earlier years, according to his writings, now spent endless time in prayer and also in fasting while alone and isolated on the mountain. He came to know Jesus Christ in those sufferings. One night during a time of prayer and fasting, Patrick wrote: "I heard in my sleep a voice saying to me: 'It is well that you fast. Soon you will go to your own country.' And again, after a short while, I heard a voice saying to me: 'See, your ship is ready.’” Patrick miraculously escaped and traveled 200 miles cross country to the west coast, across some of Ireland’s toughest terrain. He found a ship ready to sail, but was refused passage. After a desperate prayer, he was allowed aboard. Patrick eventually returned to his home and family. His experience of God's grace and provision solidified his faith. He began to study for the ministry. One night, he had a dream. There was a man who came from Ireland with a whole bunch of letters. And he opened up one of the letters and it said 'The Voice of the Irish.’ He then heard a voice coming out of this letter that said, ‘Please return to us. We need you.’ The souls of the Irish were beckoning him to return. Patrick struggled in his heart. Could he return to Ireland and minister to the same people who had enslaved him? Once again, he turned to God in prayer. He received the answer in a dream. He talks about how he, Patrick, in this dream, is trying to pray and yet he cannot. So he hears a voice coming from inside of him which he realizes is the voice of God praying for him. Patrick knew he had to go and convince his church that he was called to be a missionary to Ireland. He set sail in a small ship. Patrick landed at the mouth of the Slaney River, on the east coast of Ireland. When Patrick set foot on this shore, a new era dawned on the island. The Ireland of Patrick’s time was an Ireland of tribalism, an Ireland of war, an Ireland of suspicion, witchcraft, an Ireland of violence and death. Here he came as a virtual stranger to this country of warring factions.They worshipped multiple gods of the sky and the earth and the water, and so that was his first challenge: to convince the Irish that there was only one TRUE God and that THIS God really did love them. Patrick DID come face to face with the chieftains and their druid priests. The showdown came on the morning of his first Easter in Ireland, on the eve of one of her greatest pagan festivals. This festival was one that marked three full days of unrestrained orgies, drunkenness and debauchery. Tradition had it that the High King of Ireland, who resided on the Hill of Tara, would light a single fire to launch the beginning of the revelry, and there were to be NO OTHER fires lit apart from his. Once the King’s fire was lit, the festivities could begin. However, just before the King was to light his fire, Patrick, who had positioned himself on an adjacent hill to the Hill of Tara, lit a forbidden fire, his OWN fire, in defiance of the king, his rituals, and declared that there was only ONE TRUE AND LIVING GOD, ….. and waited. The king was SO infuriated that he sent his army to the adjacent hill to crush whomever dared to defy the king’s ordinance and bring the rebel back to his castle. So they did. With that, Patrick, with no though for his own safety or life, began to boldly preach the Gospel to the king and all of his men. He explained that he wasn't a threat, because he was bringing the new light, the light of Christ, the Savior of the world, the Light of the world. History tells us that the king himself, was so very taken back by the courage of this young man and the passion for that which he believed, that he ordered that he be released and permitted to spread his message freely and unhindered, throughout the land. Patrick's ministry lasted 29 years. He baptized over 120,000 Irishmen and planted 300 churches. ‘St Patrick’ as we know him today, was a true missionary in every sense of the word, a man of prayer, but also a man of action. A man who heard the voice of God, and simply obeyed. My prayer is that we would all become missional in our lifetime. Oh, that we also would possess the same courage and boldness that Patrick possessed when he confronted the established religion and mindset of a generation, and stand in the face of unrighteousness to declare THE TRUTH! May we be the light of Christ to OUR world and THE world around about us. “I pray to God to give me perseverance and to deign that I be a faithful witness to Him to the end of my life for my God.” ― Saint Patrick |