THE FOUR DREAMS OF ST. PATRICK
SERMON STARTER
It was 1998 and Lois and I were on one of American Airlines’ twin engine turboprops out of Dallas. We were on a sad journey to say our final goodbyes to our beloved dad Harvey. A young lady served us a snack when we reached 22,000 feet and handed each of us a napkin. Mine has neatly printed these words,
“Never give up on a dream just because of the length of time it takes to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”
My daughter Lisa told me she was expecting in 2007. Her conception and birth was a fulfillment of a special promise that came to me in two dreams in 1990. That year was one of the most stressful of my entire vocational career. I attempted to “mop up” behind a failed church plant. The plant failed miserably because of the pastor’s moral and ethical behavior with women and money. When I heard the congregation’s original call for help, I saw myself as a rescuer. What seemed originally so easy at first became a thankless, hopeless task. I was pressured on every side and considered leaving the church and the pastoral ministry altogether.
God gave me the two dreams that came with a promise. The first dream was of me holding a little dark-haired girl of about four years of age on my knee. I knew the child was my grandchild. I understood her to be a child of promise. There was great joy.
The second dream involved my sitting in the front of the “Shepherd of Love Church.” People were coming to me one by one and family by family. They were kneeling and weeping, trying to persuade me not to leave. The church was filled with people, maybe 350 or more. I awakened with tears in my own eyes. I realized I had unfinished work here to do. And, remembering the former dream, I realized that God had unfinished work to do through me.
God gave me this scripture as I have attempted to fulfill God’s Call on my life over the past twenty-seven years:
Habbakuk 2:1-3
2:1 I will stand on my guard post And station myself on the rampart; And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, And how I may reply when I am reproved.
2 Then the LORD answered me and said, "Record the vision And inscribe it on tablets, That the one who reads it may run.
3 "For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal, and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay.
Pastor Phil <><<
A Dreamer of Divine Dreams
March 12, 2017 – Sheepfold Ministries
St. Patrick’s Day Celebration – Pastor Phil Roland
THE FOUR DREAMS OF ST. PATRICK
ISAIAH 6:1-9
“Patrick prayed frequently during his six years of captivity. The Lord heard his prayers and spoke guidance into his life through dreams. His vision and calling convict us even now!” Pastor Phil
PATRICK HAD THREE NAMES DURING HIS LIFETIME
1) Maewyn Succat was born in 387 AD in Roman Britain (MY-win SUK-kat)
2) Patercius, Roman, Latin Name (Pa-TER-cius)
3) Patrick was his Gaelicized Name (PAH-trick)
Numbers 12:6
6 Then He said, "Hear now My words: "If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream.
Joel 2:28 28 "And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.
Isaiah's Call Brought three responses
I. WOE - Verse 5
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
A. In times of Great Tribulation God shows up - Isaiah 48:10
10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
1. Maewyn's father was a deacon and his Grandfather a priest
2. At 16 he is taken prisoner by a band of Irish raiders
3. In Ireland he's sold as a slave, bought by an Irish chieftain
4. Maewyn becomes a shepherd as a slave
5. A non-believer, he was led to Christ by a fellow slave, Cedd
B. Maewyn cries out to God in his affliction - 1 Peter 4:12
“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.”
1. As a lonely shepherd he would pray up to 100X day and nite
2. C.S. Lewis said it like this,
"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but
shouts in our pains. It's His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."
C. God answers Maewyn in a Dream #1 and #2
1. In year of captivity 6 God told him his release time was near
2. In a 2nd dream he was told his ship was ready, time to go
3. He traveled 200 miles to Ireland's East Coast
4. He is invited to board a ship and becomes a slave again
THE FOUR DREAMS OF ST. PATRICK, p. 2
Isaiah's Call Brought a Second Response
II. LO - Verses 6,7 - NKJV "Behold" - NIV - "See"
6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
A. God speaks to Maewyn again in Dream #3
1. This time God tells him he'll be released in 2 months
2. Pagans were in Ireland now he finds them in Britain
3. Polytheists, Maewyn tells them about the One True God
4. He learned to use the Shamrock there is explain the Trinity
B. His captors run out of food and begin to starve
1. They taunt him to pray to His God for food
2. Maewyn tells them to convert and pray themselves
3. A herd of wild pigs come out of the forest and they eat
4. They begin to fear Maewyn's God and release him
5. He was set free on the 60th day of captivity
C. He goes back home after more than 6 years away - Romans 5:3-5 “And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also
rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces
perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope
does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our
hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
1. Maewyn returns home to his family and rejoicing
2. He uses his Latin (Roman) name, Patercius
III. GO - Verses 8, 9a
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. 9 And he said,
Go, and tell this people,
A. Patercius experiences yet a 4th Dream:
1. A man named Victorius carries a satchel filled with letters
2. The letters read,
"The voice of the Irish - Come and walk among us."
3. Patercius heard this as a Call of God back to Ireland
4. This time he would go as a Missionary
B. He submitted to the church and labored as a priest 24 years
1. At 46 years of age the church finally sent him to Ireland
2. This time he went as a Bishop to Ireland
C. In the next 29 years he single-handedly converted the Island
1. He baptized 120,000
2. He planted 300 to 700 churches
3. He converted Pirates, Pagans, Paupers and Princes
4. Patercius is credited with more than 1,000 miracles
D. We know him as "St. Patrick"
“Saint Patrick’s Prayer”
(also known as “Saint Patrick’s Breastplate” stated in part:)
“I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me:
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptations of vices,
From everyone who shall with me be ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone and in multitude.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.”
THE FOUR DREAMS OF ST. PATRICK
Isaiah 6:1-9
1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
