St. Patrick's Day study

Today we are doing a one-day study on the true meaning of St. Patrick's Day, who was St. Patrick and why we celebrate this day. I like to take the time to learn about the different holidays and their roots.

St. Patrick had no interest in things of the Lord when he was a young boy in England. But at 16, he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Ireland. It was there, as a slave, that the Lord opened his eyes to the sin in his life that he "might remember his sins and be converted with all his heart to the Lord his God."

He then escaped and returned to England and was reunited with his family. He received his calling from the Lord to take the gospel message that had saved him form his sins to the very people of Ireland who had kidnapped him and held him captive as a slave.

So, he returned to the place of his captivity, and shared the gospel throughout the entire country of Ireland and many, many came to know the Lord. He ministered there for about 30 years, seeing over 100,000 baptized and founding hundreds of churches.

Legend says that he used the three leaf clover- the shamrock- to explain the Holy Trinity. And thus, we now have the tradition of St. Patrick's day and the shamrock and wearing of green and so forth. March 17th marks the anniversary of his death and therefore is the day on which he is remembered.

What was most interesting to me was that Patrick went above and beyond just seeing souls saved, he did the dirty work of making disciples. After his death, his homeland of England had strayed far from their roots of Christianity and it was a lost and desperate nation. Christians in Ireland were sent out as missionaries to England to share the gospel with the English. Patrick's mission and ministry came full circle in those days, as he had prepared those that accepted the Lord by teaching them to go out into all nations and make disciples by teaching them all about the life of Jesus and his commands. (Matthew 29:19-20)

I believe there is something truly wrong if we as missionaries, as pastors and as Christians believe our job ends at just sharing the gospel and then never teaching new believers what their decision to follow Christ really means.

Praise the Lord for examples in the faith like St. Patrick.

My kids loved this history and discovering that this was not a holiday about leprechauns and finding the pot at the end of the rainbow, but based on the life of a missionary who worked long and hard and saw much fruit as a result. They even started a project about St. Patrick and his life to share with their friends at their Awana club here.

May you be blessed with this history as we were.

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners..." Isaiah 61:1