(Men God Made) Paul — Willie Mullan

We're looking at Paul in the school of God just now, and I want to look very carefully at the background of this student who came into the school of God. And I can tell you that he was one of the most outstanding students that God ever took into the school.

When you get all the natural qualifications that he had, and you line him up with Peter and some of the others, you can see just how great a start he had on that. And so we're going to look at the background of Paul.

Paul's Jewish Heritage and Religious Credentials

And we'll begin in Philippians chapter 3 this evening. The letters of the Philippians, written by Paul, and he's talking about things that he gloried in before he was saved. And at the same time though, he said in verse 5, a circumcised being each day.

You know, he sort of was proud of this before he was saved. One of the things he gloried in. And it tells us something about his parents, you know. So, his parents were Jews, and they were very orthodox, because their little baby boy was circumcised on the eighth day.

We're going to find out that they were Pharisees, and they were a very strict lot of Pharisees. So he's going back to the things he gloried in. He says, I was circumcised the eighth day. I think when he penned the phrase, the stock of Israel, I think this is something that before he met the Lord Jesus, he was very proud about.

He was really of the stock of Israel. No bother about this, you know. And then he goes on, circumcised the eighth day, the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin. Now, he knew what tribe he belonged to, all right.

You know, there are books going around today, they call themselves British Israelites, and they talk about lost tribes. I'm afraid not, dear. You know, somebody came to our door once, and I found out they were British Israelites, and they said, you know, there are some tribes that are lost.

I said, now just tell me one or two of the lost ones. Is it the tribe of Benjamin that are lost? I said, I'm afraid not. Oh, yes, he said they were lost. I said, when were they lost? Oh, he said they were lost when they were taken away down to Assyria.

Let me tell you, they never went to Assyria. They went to Babylon. He didn't know, of course. Somebody had told him that. And let me tell you, the tribes that went to Syria were not lost either. Because Asher went to Syria.

Oh, but the lady that Cecil was talking about the other Sunday, Anna, was of the tribe of Asher. And that's a long time after Syria. And you can go through this book, and you can find the tribes. And here's Benjamin, he is all right.

And I used to go to Havdidich with an old Jew who lived on the Antrim Road, and we went every other Friday. And he belonged to the tribe of Benjamin too, and had the whole tree of his history on the wall.

I wasn't sure whether it was correct or not. But he believed he belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. Anyhow, this bit we are at now is inspired by the Spirit of God. Pope Paul belongs to the tribe of Benjamin.

He was sort of proud of that. Because when Israel, the nation, broke into two nations, and two nations became the southern kingdom, and ten nations became the northern kingdom, it was Benjamin that stayed with Judah in the south.

And they were always known as the faithful and loyal tribe. And that's what Paul was at here, you know. He goes back to his early days before he was saved, and he was so proud he was circumcised on the eighth day.

So proud he belonged to the stock of Israel. So proud he belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. Then he says, I'm Hebrew of the Hebrews. Isn't that a tremendous race? Don't you see he was a real scholar? But we're going to see more of that just in a moment or two.

Of touching the law of Pharisee. You know he was a real Pharisee. Father and mother were Pharisees. When he's given his defense before one of the judges in the Acts of the Apostles, he said, after the strictest set of our religion, I learnt a fathership.

He was sort of proud of that in those days too. Going back here to the phase, and it's letting you see him, you know, when we go back to Acts 22. Let's go back there just for a moment. I want you to get this because this is also very important as we set the stage just now.

Acts 22. He's making his defense here. Verse 1. Men, brethren, and fathers, hear my defense which I now make unto you. And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongues of them, they kept them all silent, I knew that this fellow had been to school.

And he says, I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Parshus, a city in Philistia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel. I want you to get that. You see, this tells us something. He was born in Parshus, a city in Philistia.

Actually, he said to the Romans on one occasion, I'm a citizen of no mean city. You know what that meant? That meant this. That before his father and mother could live in this city, they had to have property qualifications.

They had to own a big bit of the city. Yes, they did. And they had to own ground out round the city. So it tells us he came from a family that was well to do. Now being as strict as he, his father and mother would send him to Jerusalem to be taught.

And he came to Jerusalem to sit at the feet of Gamaliel. And some of the old Jewish writers go back and they maintain that the greatest teacher of the law in those days was Gamaliel. Actually, one of the old Jewish fathers said that Gamaliel was the law personified.

This man sought to live the law. And this is where Paul was brought up. So I want you to see him. He would be sent there when he was fifteen years of age. And he must have been at the feet of Gamaliel for quite a while.

And he really graduated there. Let's get another little pic, just as we look at his background. Come to Galatians, and we're at the first chapter here. Galatians, and we're chapter one. Verse eleven. The writing said, But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not of the man.

For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught of it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it, and profited in the Jews' religion.

I want you to get the hold of this. Isn't this tremendous? Profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in my own nation. Being more exhuming, they tell us, of the tradition of my fathers. You see, as he waited at the feet of Gamaliel, and was taught in all the commandments and laws concerning Judaism and pharisaicalism, this fellow outshit them all.

Quite a clever we love this. And when I say we love, I mean that. Because I think that when he was born, he was a very small baby. And I think to his very dying day, he was a very small, insignificant little man.

In fact, when the Corinthians want to insult him, they say his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible. Gives us a sort of picture of him physically. And he must have been a small, weak, almost contemptible looking little man with narrow shoulders.

Oh, but he was all there. Every bit of him. Yes, you know, at school he outstripped the whole crowd of them. Yes, he had really profited in the Jews' religion above many mine equals in mine own nation.

Want you to get the hold of all that. Because we're looking at his background. You see, he was a religionist. Because all the sons of all the Pharisees had to learn a trade. And he was a tent maker. And we don't need to go into that, but he did learn all this tent making.

Of course, it meant making tents for the Bedouins and Arabs out of these goat skins. Now, there's something more, and we've got to go back to Philippians chapter 3 to get it all put together. This is how this book works.

There's so much thread through it, you've got to gather it together, and then weave it into the pattern, and then you have it. And here it is. Watch the whole story here now. Verse 5. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel.

Of the tribe of Benjamin. And Hebrew of the Hebrews. As touching the law of Pharisee. Conferring zeal, persecuting the church. Now, get this bit right now. Touching the righteousness which is in the law.

Blameless! Well, that's a very big statement. It would take a lot of time to just tidy that up for you. When you talk about the righteousness which is in the law, what are you talking about? Let me do it quickly for you.

When you talk about the law, sometimes you're talking about the ceremonial law. That's the law of the offerings. Sometimes you talk about the civil law. That's the law of the nation. Sometimes you talk about the moral law.

That's the Ten Commandments. And I think it's the Ten Commandments. And he's talking about the righteousness which is in the law. And you know that when you take the Ten Commandments, you can put them into two.

There are some commandments which go Godwards. You shall have no other gods before me and so on. There are commandments in the Ten that just go Godwards. Although there are quite a lot of the commandments, there are six of them that go manwards.

And that's what we're talking about. These commandments that went manwards. Honour your father and your mother. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness.

Thou shalt not covet. Those are all commandments manwards. And to always honour my mother. No matter how poor she is. Wish I had mine tonight. I'll tell you. I would make her a queen. Yes, I would. I owe more to her than I'll ever pay.

Yes. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet. Those are theories. I'm going with this policy lived up with, you know.

You know what some of the folks think? See the rich young ruler that came to Jesus. Came running. Kneeled at Christ's feet saying, What must I do to have eternal life? Jesus said, Thou knowest the commandments.

Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not commit adultery. And he began to quote these commandments that went manwards. And the young fellow on his knees in the dust looked up and said, All these that I taught from my youth, some people think it was Paul.

I don't think it was Paul. But it was a boy like Paul. Oh no, I don't think it was Paul at all. Mind you, he was rich too. And in a sense he was a ruler. Because I want to enforce this this evening, that not only did he do well at the feet of Gamaliel, and outstripped all the other students, I think in his early life he became a member of the Sanhedrin.

I'm positively sure of that. Because the day that the Sanhedrin committed Stephen to death, it was Saul of Tarsus that stood there. And they laid their clothes at his feet, and he was consenting that Sanhedrin had to have a man there to witness the execution, and it was Saul.

But I don't think with all that behind it, that this was a rich young ruler. I think it would have given us a bit more details than that. Oh no, but here he is. Can you see him? He was a Benjamite. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews.

He was a scholar. He was a pharisee. He was a citizen of no mean city. He was a student under Gamaliel. He was a Jewish religionist. He was a tent maker. He was a moral law keeper in many ways. He was a nice young fellow.

But he had no time for Christ. And there are some nice fellows today, being brought up nice, and they haven't done anything wrong in many ways, only they have no time for Christ. And you know, friend, when you reject God's Son, you're not nice at all.

You live, you would pat yourself on the back if you are. You're the biggest sinner in God's earth. You're rejecting God's Son. Now, that's the student that came into the school. I want you to see some of the blessings he had before he was saved.

Stephen's Martyrdom and Saul's Persecution

Before God apprehended him on that road that led to Damascus, I want you to see some of the blessings he had. Let's go to the Acts of the Apostles, and we're at chapter 7. The Acts of the Apostles, and we're at the 7th chapter.

And this is the chapter where Stephen makes his defense before the Sanhedrin. And that's that Jewish council, that venerable and authoritative council of the Jews that sat in Jerusalem. 71 members, and Stephen's too many for them.

And you know, they cast him out of the city at last and stoned him. See verse 58 of chapter 7. Cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet.

His name was Saul. So you can see he was still a young man. Oh, he had graduated all right out of Gamaliel's school and he was well known for his zeal and his religious power. He was known that all right.

I want you to get the hold of that. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, I want you to listen to what he said. He said, Lord Jesus, but a soul of justice stood there and heard this young man who was being stoned say, Lord Jesus, taking that name on his lips, it must have made his very soul tremble.

He didn't like that name. At that moment he believed that Jesus was dead. He believed he was a malefactor and the Jews had the right to put him to death. And he believed that the resurrection thought was a farce.

But here's a man being stoned and he's lifting his eyes to heaven and he's saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, this young man Stephen kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.

He had never seen anybody dying like that before. Oh, he had seen people stoned probably before. He had never seen anybody so earnest looking up into the sky and saying, Lord Jesus. And he had never heard anybody praying for their enemies like that before.

He knew something about the issue. Verse 1 of chapter 8, and I don't know why they put the chapter there, a soul was consenting unto his death. You see, he had watched a real Christian die. And you know, it's a mighty thing to see a Christian die.

Yeah, I remember my mother dying. I remember her taking a seizure in the kitchen and holding her breast and her eyes rolling. And I said, Mommy, grabbing her and sort of half lifting her and laying her on the couch.

She said, I'm going home to heaven. There she was, a poor fellow, didn't know anything. Standing in the dark, drunk, broke her heart. What a memory it is. What a happy memory. Yeah, she's better off, isn't she?

Yeah, here was Saul. He never got over this, you know. Look at chapter 9. Want you to get this. You know, he turned away from this thing. And he's determined to stamp out these Christians who like this thing.

And Saul, yet breathing on threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went on to the high priest. Now, here's a point for us. He must have been wearing in the Sanhedrin. He must have been one of the forces of that council, when he can go into the high priest.

Not everybody could have gone in there, you know. It's like going to the Pope now. You just couldn't go, you know. Oh, even if you were a Roman Catholic, you can't go. I would have a bigger chance than you.

Now, I'll tell you this. This man wasn't speaking terms with the high priest. They all knew that he was a great character. He'd done well at school. Gamaliel had given him a character reference that would take him anywhere.

And he must have stood up a time or two in the Sanhedrin and let them know how much he knew about the law. He doesn't like these Christians. Doesn't like this name Jesus. He's going to blot this out as he can.

He's breathing on threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. The Lord went up to the high priest and desired to send letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this lady, whether they were male or woman, he might bring them down onto Jerusalem.

And that's the first time we have women mentioned of being arrested for the gospel. And it's this man that's going to arrest them. He's going to bring them, put them in prison. And mind you, he brought many bound at times and some to death.

Paul's Conversion on the Road to Damascus

And Auntie Josie became near Damascus. I stood in this old city one day. Oh, what a day it was. Remember it well. And the Russians had taken it over and they were wandering up and down with their jackboots on.

And they looked you up and down, you know. And I had the camera and hardly knew what end of it was right anyway, so it didn't matter too much. And he came along and he said to me in good English, don't you use that.

And I never spoke. But I was determined I would have a photo of Damascus. Whether that's right or wrong, you can do what you like about it. So when he had gone away a bit, I said to Mr. Irvine, who was next to me, I'm taking the photograph of this city.

He says, you have allowed the poor person prison all night long. Well, I said I shall be able to stick to prison, what you want to know. But when I got this jackboot fellow away, I did take a photograph, and I have it to this day in the whole city.

It's a lovely one. But this fellow had the click of the camera. Came running like sheet lightning. And I was just talking to Irvine about the time, and so I was. And he came up and lifted it off my neck and had a look at it.

Looked at me. Put it on again. Took Irvine's off and had a look at him and gave him a real scolding. I felt like saying, that's the boy there. Yes. And I was taken outside the city and they took me to the spot where Paul had gone to, just outside the city.

They would tell you anything, you could never be sure. At least I was in Damascus and they can't shift it often enough. And at least I was on the road that led into Damascus. And somewhere on that road, this is what happened.

Verse 3. And as he journeyed he came near Damascus and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. Now when he's telling this over again in one of the other chapters, he said to the king, O king, at midday there shone a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun.

So it was a mighty light. It was glory that was shining down. The Lord had just opened the heavens and the glory of God was shining down. And it frightened Paul. And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Fall!

Fall! Why persecutest thou me? You know, it was the Lord's voice to man. It was the Lord tearing the heavens apart and letting the glory out and shouting from the highest heaven, Fall! Fall! It should be such a thing.

You know, he wasn't cursing the Lord. He couldn't get up to curse him. But when you touch one of his down here, you're touching him up there. Don't you forget that. Why persecutest thou me? You just take one of them and persecute them to you too.

You're touching him. You see, he's the head of the body. You see, just hurt that hand there. Just you hit him with a hammer. And that head will know what you're doing. And it's all one now. He heard his name being called.

He knows this is something belonging to God. Now, I want you to watch the wording very carefully. Please watch it carefully. We're in verse 5. And he said, that is Paul said, Who art thou? Lord. He used this word.

And the word there is Jehovah. He's looking up this light. He can't see off it. He said, Who am I? Lord. I want you to be very careful with this because it is most important. And the Lord said. The Lord in heaven said.

Jesus. Would you tell Mother Russell, the birth mother said, If they'd never been able to find this out. See the Lord. Jehovah. He's here. The Lord said. I'm so pity of you. You can't read, you know. Jesus is the Lord.

I don't see any bother with it. I read it to you, Russell, right at the door. He looked at it. His eyes nearly fall out. I said, look, it's easy, isn't it? The Lord said, I am Jesus. Is that right? He's afraid to answer.

It's terrible when rubbish stops your mind until you can't answer truthfully. It's quite easy. He was learning. He thought up to this moment that Jesus is a farce. He's not right at all. He's dead. He's buried.

It's not true. And when Stephen is calling, Lord Jesus, it's rubbish. Now he's hearing the voice and the voice from heaven is saying, I am Jesus. I'll tell you, he was converted there to men. He knew, no.

No bother at all, you know. See the blessings he had. He saw a Christian dying. He felt the spirit's problems because the Lord Jesus said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to take against the pricks.

You know what the pricks were? All the time, from the moment he saw Stephen die, he never had peace. He knew this brother had something he hadn't got. He couldn't die like that. I've seen men who argue when it comes to dying.

They know they haven't got anything, my dear friend. See this fellow. Aren't you getting it? He heard the voice of Jesus. You know, that was the day that God revealed his Son. Before in that Galatian epistle, he said, you know, there came a day when he revealed his Son to me.

It was there then. He was gloriously saved. Now I want you to see his beginnings. Going far too slow. Look at the beginnings he had. Let's go down to verse 10. We're at chapter 9 of Acts, verse 10. There was a certain man, a disciple at Damascus, named Ananias.

Probably this was one of the fellows that he was coming to arrest. And to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the street which is called Satan and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus.

For behold, he prayeth. And the scene in the vision, a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive the sight. You know, this frightened Ananias. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man how much evil he hath done since I came to Jerusalem.

And here he hath authority from the high priest to bind all that call on my name. They knew what he was coming for. And the Lord said unto him, Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. Ananias didn't debate it anymore. Nor which we would do what we're told when we're told. They'd have argued. Ananias went his way, entered into the house, and putting his hands on him said, see the first word, Brother, how's my son?

Some people said to me, you know, try and argue with me. Was he shaved out there at all or was it lint that he was saying? Ha ha! I'll tell you that Ananias knew he was shaved. The Lord that sent Ananias knew he was shaved too.

Ananias was big enough to say, Brother, you know what some of the old tank boys would do, didn't you? They'd want chapter and verse for it now. They would want to ask you a whole lot of questions. And they'd try to tie the weak fellows up.

I'll go and tell them, Brother, this is the first thing that helps all. Here's Ananias, first word, his brother, I ran the help of deads in Christ. Instead of questioning them. Some of the other hypocrites that go about these meetings, they would say to me, they've never helped a lamb in their life.

Ananias said, no bother. Remember he was helping Saul who became poor. He said, Brother, I think that's a great thing. He calls him, Brother Saul. And then he took up the same wording, the Lord. What's this we've got?

Even Jesus. Ha ha! He knew the truth too. Because the Lord is Jesus. He says, the Lord, even Jesus. That appeared unto me in the way as I came as I sent me. And so on. And you know, this was a great encouragement.

You know, when I would say it first, and hadn't a shoe in my foot, nor a penny in my pocket, nor a shirt on my back. And yet on Sunday morning, when I knew it was Sunday morning, first Sunday morning, what do you do?

No Bible, no money, no shoes, no nothing. I've got to go to church and say it. It's a bit of a test, isn't it? You never went to church in your life. So I get out of the door and sure as nobody I can talk to.

Walk down the old alley and into the street and walk on down to the big church. That was, and all the big cars going in. Now don't blame me. I didn't know anything about denomination. So it wasn't any bigotry of any kind.

Just the porch was too big and the foot looked too well. And I just can't go. I had to walk on. You see, it's bigotry with him, you know. Yes. Walked on and I came to the Baptist. Oh, you should have seen it.

It was a tumble down shack. Tin hot it was. Curry jittered up in the roof and shades and all. And I stood on the far side of the street and looked at it and wondered what they did in there. I didn't know whether they were Roman Catholics or anything.

I didn't know a thing about it. I was worse than Roman Catholics. I didn't know. But there was a fellow giving out handbooks in the porch who knew. He looked at me and then he just came across the street slowly and he said, Would you like to come in?

I said, I got saved the other night. Got out the hands, cut his right hand, shook it. Saved a lot. He said, why don't you come in and sit with me? I said, I don't know what you're doing there. I wouldn't know what to do.

He said, come on in and I'll put you in a seat where somebody will come and sit beside you and will help you. Sure nobody will say anything to you. Come on in and I'll help you. Put me in, you know. Put me in the back seat and Dorrie Gunning came and sat beside me.

Gave me her Bible and said, look on then. He said, what do I do here? He said, the pastor will preach. And what he preached on that morning was the text The Lord shall not fail thee. For me. So pleased that I was there.

The Lord shall not fail thee. Open our door and see who it is. It's the devil, I thought. He's wrestling, you know. Yes. And you know, they encourage me. They want to encourage me. Our Paul was here at Damascus for quite a few days.

Paul's Escape and the Necessity of Spiritual Wisdom

And you know the Jews then turned on him. They were determined. Determined to take his life. See verse 23. And after that many days were fulfilled the Jews took counsel to kill him. That's the way they do with you, you know.

You're alright when they're on you. You're on their side. You just put your hand in the hand of Christ and you see where your friends are. But the lying awake was no more so. And they watched the geeks, Nathan, David, Jerem.

They were waiting on them. See the disciples. The disciples took them by night. Let them down the wall. But the wall in a basket. You know, this whole basket has been a blessing to me. It was a blessing to Paul.

You see you can be so stubborn in this thing. You can say, I don't get two hoops about them. The Lord will look after me. Our Lord wants you to use the two or three blades you have, you know. Sometimes I'm foolhardy here and I come when I shouldn't come.

I know. But all of us would need to have a little bit of wisdom. If you've got double pneumonia you need to stay at home. Or if you're not well, you need to look after yourself. And the Lord expects you to do so.

And there's no use of solitarsis throwing his weight out. He's got to crawl into this basket. It was a big basket. And you crawl up in it like a kitten. And they let him down in the mat. That's how he got away.

And you have to take all the precautions you can take. That's what the basket said. Sometimes when I'm just doing the wrong thing, I hear the word basket. And I need to get into my basket. Sometimes. It's hard to get me in sometimes.

There it is. It's there all right. And you know, he went from there away to the back side of the desert. And he was three years there. Three years in Arabia. Nobody knows where he was. Went out into the back side of the desert and was alone with the Lord.

Ah, you know you need to get alone with the Lord. There's nothing that will substitute for that. Get alone with the Lord. See, this starts in time. If Pharaoh called him brother, this basket came into action.

Paul's Sufferings for the Gospel

And then he was at the back side of the desert. You know, the battles that Paul fought. Let's have a look at some of the pains of Paul. I'll not draw this up too far. Have a look at 2 Corinthians chapter 11.

This, I tell you, makes me sometimes feel that we squeal about very little. See, some of us well, the least little thing annoys us. And we're always moaning. Where do you see this man of God? And where do you see what he went through?

And I'm not trying to expound it. He's talking about his sufferings. See, 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 24. Of the Jews, five times received, died forty stripes. Same one. You know what it means. Let me say it for the young folks.

The Jews dug them over the scourging bone, tied his hands, lifted the low back from his back, and his back is bare. And they've got a long leather mask, and in the end it's all leathered with balls of lead.

And they have a man who's trained to use it, and every time he hits it he can lift a line of flesh off. They can plough furrows in your back, and this is what they did with the Lord. Now, when they are going to beat you with the stripes, they give you forty stripes, and they count them as they give you.

When they come to thirty-nine, they stop in case they had missed the count. So it says, five times received, died forty stripes. Same one. Five times he got thirty-nine of these. And I'll guarantee you that this little narrow back that we were talking about was cut into ribbons.

We don't know anything about that. If somebody looked wrong in the open air, he would nearly die. We don't know anything about it. But that's only the beginning of it. He says, twice was I beaten with rods.

He's got the birch, you know. And I can tell you, the old governor of the prison sat with me once, and he let me see the birch in there, and he said to me, Willie, I'll tell you this, there's no man that ever came in here and got the birch that ever came back again.

They need to birch them a bit more now, wouldn't they? Oh, you know they give them TV. Blankets. Heated blankets and all that. We haven't got them at home. There. What's this? Twice was I beaten with rods.

Once was I stoned. Stoned almost to death. Twice was I suffered shipwreck. A day and a night, a night and a day I've been in the deep and journeying off in pairs of water and pairs of rubbers and pairs of my own countrymen and pairs by the heathen and pairs in the city and pairs in the wilderness and pairs in the sea and pairs among false brethren in weariness and painfulness and watchings often in hunger and thirst.

We know nothing about it. Not a thing do we know. Put your suffering beside this, do you see? Why you're being treated like a king all your life but when you put it beside this you're nothing to groan about.

I'll tell you, this fellow went through the mill, loved the Lord. I want you to say a word about his bent. Come to Philippines and I'll not push it too far. Philippines, chapter one. And this is the bit that I like probably most of all out of the whole story of Paul.

He says, talking about his imprisonments and all that went on. He says, verse 19,. For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer. He liked people to pray for him too. And the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.