Download Paul is Taken Prisoner Acts 21:18 - 23:10 The kids will understand

Paul is Taken Prisoner
Acts 21:18 - 23:10
The kids will understand:
 The story of Paul being taken prisoner for standing up for God’s truth.
 That Paul got in trouble for speaking the message of Jesus to the Gentiles.
 That God’s love is for everyone.
Game
Supplies:
trashcans
beach balls
prizes/candy
Set up the trashcans and mark a line 3-5 feet from them. This will be where the kids will
stand. Put a clean trash bag in the cans before the service.
Each kid will get only one try to throw the ball into the trashcan. If they get the ball in the
trashcan, they stand to one side, and if they don’t get it in the trashcan, they will go and
sit down. After the game, all the people who made it will think they are the winners.
BUT, instead of just rewarding the kids who made it, give everyone a piece of candy or a
sticker.
Didn’t you automatically think that the people who made the basket were the ones who
should get the prize? Why did everyone get a prize? Those kids who made the basket
could be upset that everyone got a prize, but I’m the one who gets to make those
decisions, not you. In the Bible story that we’re going to look at today, there is a special
group of people who thought they were the winners of God’s love. They thought that
God’s love was only for them. But, God had other plans. God got to choose whom His
love was for, and He decided His special message of love was for everyone!
Activity
Supplies:
empty tissue boxes
permanent marker
envelopes
Create 10 mailboxes using empty tissue boxes or shoeboxes. Using a permanent marker
write a number 1-10 on each mailbox. Place the mailboxes all around the room. Prepare
enough envelopes that each child can have 3-5 envelopes. Mark each envelope with a
random number 1-10, just like the mailboxes.
I have several messages that need to be delivered to the right people. Can you help me?
The children will deliver their messages to the corresponding mailbox around the room
by matching the number on their envelope to the number on the mailbox.
Thanks for helping me get my messages to the right people. In our Bible story today,
Paul is delivering a message to a group of people, but some think he took it to the
wrong place!
Bible Account
Supplies:
thumbtack
poster board
marker
3 large balloons
clear tape
Beforehand, you need to prepare a large piece of poster board to represent the words
GOD LOVES EVERYONE. Write the word GOD. Draw a heart instead of the word
LOVES, and draw a group of people in place of the word EVERYONE. Then blow up 3
balloons.
Tape the first balloon on the poster board over the word GOD, so that what the kids see is
the balloon (the word GOD is hidden). Then tape the second balloon over the heart, and
the third balloon over the people. Attach the poster board to the wall or set it on an easel.
The balloons should conceal the words underneath.
Paul (who had been known as Saul) was a servant of God, and God used him to tell the
good news of Jesus to many people. Paul went to a group of Jesus’ friends in
Jerusalem. He was excited to tell them how he had shared the good news of Jesus with
so many people. He just knew they would want to hear how God was working in the
lives … of Gentiles. The Jews called anybody who wasn’t a Jew, a Gentile. But most
Jews thought the people called Gentiles—anybody who wasn’t a Jew—could not be
loved by God, because they were different. Did you get that? They thought that God
didn’t care about people who were not like them.
Invite a child to use the thumbtack to pop the first balloon to reveal the word GOD
underneath the balloon.
Paul knew that God loved the people called Gentiles, even if they were different. But
some Jews absolutely, positively could not stand Gentiles. They hated Paul for
preaching the good news of Jesus to them, and they just out-right hated the Gentiles
too. These Jews who were so mad came and found Paul and captured him! They
locked him up and they beat him!
Invite another child to use the thumbtack to pop the second balloon. The heart
(representing the word LOVES) will be revealed when it is popped.
These Jews judged other people, but God loved them. Oh yes! God loved the Gentiles.
He loves everyone, even those who are different. Paul was chained up with big heavy
chains, and the crowds yelled at him and beat him! He was thrown in prison because
he preached that God loves everyone, including the Gentiles.
Paul got a chance to talk, so he spoke to the crowd in Hebrew, which was their
language. We speak English, and others speak other languages like Spanish and
French, but these people spoke a language called Hebrew. Paul wanted them to totally
understand what he had to say. They listened as he shared about how he used to hate
Christians and kill them, and then Jesus changed his life. He shared how God used
him to preach and tell the Gentiles that Jesus loved them, and how God had worked
through him.
No, no, no! They didn’t want to hear it! Cover your ears as you say this. Boy, were they
upset with Paul! They started to beat him again! But Paul stopped them by saying that
he was a Roman citizen. What? A Roman citizen? Oh no! The law didn’t allow them to
beat a Roman citizen. Roman citizens were protected and anyone hurting them could
get in a lot of trouble. When they heard Paul say that he was a Roman citizen, they
immediately stopped what they were doing. Whew! Paul was safe again.
Do you think that kept Paul from telling about Jesus? No way! Paul knew for sure that
God loves everyone, no matter what language they speak, no matter what their family,
no matter what they do for a living or what basketball team they root for.
Invite one last child to use the thumbtack to pop the third balloon, revealing the picture of
the people representing EVERYONE.
Point to the phrase now on the poster board and ask everyone to say it along with you:
God loves everyone!
Activity
Supplies:
chair
envelope
construction paper heart
sunglasses – several pairs
Help kids understand the story by acting it out. Before beginning, place a chair along one
wall in the room. Also cut a heart shape out of construction paper, and write “God loves
everyone!” on it. Fold up the heart and put it into an envelope.
Choose one child to be Paul. This child will stand in the middle of the room. Divide the
rest of the children into two groups—the Gentiles and the Jews. Give everyone in the
Jews group a pair of sunglasses to wear. The kids with the shades will stand on the side
of the room with the chair. The Gentiles will stand on the other side.
In our story today, Paul had a special message to take to a group of people. The Jews
thought they were extra special because they were all alike, just like our group of Jews
is special and alike because they are all wearing sunglasses. The Gentiles weren’t like
the Jews, so Paul’s message couldn’t have been for them. At least that’s what the Jews
thought!
Give Paul the envelope with the heart inside, and instruct him to take it over to the
Gentiles’ side of the room and open it up. Read the message.
Did Paul take the message to the Jews? No! He took it to the Gentiles. Paul’s message
was that God loves everyone, but the Jews didn’t like that. Tell the Jews (kids with
sunglasses) to cross their arms like they don’t like something. So they took Paul to jail.
Choose two children from the Jews group to take Paul by the hand and lead him to sit in
the chair.
Paul was taken to jail just because the Jews didn’t like that he was telling the Gentiles
that God loved them and sent Jesus to be their friend too! But because he told them
that he was a Roman citizen, they couldn’t continue to treat him badly. Just because
Paul had been in jail, that didn’t stop him from telling everyone about Jesus!
Continue to retell the story using different children as Paul and the Jews, as long as
interest holds.
Questions and Answers
1. What was the name of the group of people the Jews did not like?
(Gentiles)
2. Who were Gentiles?
(anyone who wasn’t a Jew)
3. Why did the Jews hate the Gentiles?
(just because they were different and not Jews))
4. Why was Paul captured and locked up?
(for preaching to the Gentiles)
5. What language did Paul speak when he shared how Jesus had changed his
life?
(Hebrew)
6. Paul preached that God loves __________. (everyone)
Craft
Supplies:
red construction paper
Sharpie
magazines
glue sticks
scissors
Beforehand, cut out a large red heart for each child. Write across the top of the heart
“God loves everyone!”
The children will go through magazines and cut out faces—different skin colors, different
ages, different kinds of clothes, happy people, sad people, etc. They will glue these on
their heart. Each time they add to their heart, encourage them to say, “God loves
everyone!” really loudly.
Activity
Supplies:
cotton balls
Give each child a cotton ball.
When we think we know about people just by looking at them, that’s called judging
them. When we judge others and think that they couldn’t possibly want to know that
God loves them, then, we’re pulling God’s work apart. We’re destroying the chance
that someone will love God too. We tend to look at how other people are different from
us, and for some reason, in our minds that makes them wrong. Too often we look at the
bad in other people and we pick them apart. Pull a piece of your cotton ball apart and
lead the kids in doing the same.
When someone acts differently from us, we think they couldn’t possibly be someone
who knows about God. That kid says mean, nasty words. I’m sure he’s not interested in
finding out about God’s love. Pull another piece from the cotton ball and lead the kids in
doing the same.
We see people who look and dress differently and think they couldn’t be good people.
That girl wears really old dirty clothes, so she couldn’t possibly want to believe in
Jesus. Pull another piece from the cotton ball and lead the kids in doing the same.
We see people who don’t have much money or nice things and think that they must
have done something to deserve it, and God doesn’t love them as much. That person
lives on the street, so he probably doesn’t want to know about Jesus. Pull another piece
from the cotton ball.
We see someone we don’t like and think God couldn’t love them very much. Pull
another piece from the cotton ball.
We pick and pick and pick at each other. We pull each other apart and pull apart the
good news of Jesus, until …
Hold up what’s left of your cotton ball. There’s nothing left! We mess up our chances
of sharing that God loves them when we judge them. God doesn’t want us to pull each
other apart!
Try this little exercise this week. Every person you see, whether it’s someone you know
or someone you just notice when you’re out and about, say to yourself, “God loves that
person and so should I.” Say that together several times—God loves that person and so
should I.
Activity
Supplies:
cheap puzzles
For this activity, you’ll need a simple puzzle (16-piece or smaller) for each group. These
can be puzzles that you already have, because they will still be usable once the activity is
over. Dollar stores have simple puzzles like this for just a buck.
Each group will put their puzzle together. One person will remove one piece. What if this
piece was left out of the puzzle? First of all, the picture is no longer complete.
Something is missing. What if WE decided that some people didn’t need to hear that
God loves them? What if WE decided that God doesn’t love those people. “God doesn’t
love Italian people.” Or “God doesn’t love people who shave their heads.” Or “God
doesn’t love people who eat marshmallows! When we make the decision to judge other
people, then we leave people out of God’s big picture.
Activity – Video
Supplies:
Video – Tater Tale, “It’s for Every Tater”
Enjoy watching the Tater Tale, “It’s for Every Tater.” The slides are in a video form and
have a timed transition between. The kids will see that God’s Word doesn’t allow us to
judge others, because the good news of Jesus is for everyone.
Prayer
We all come here today from different circumstances. Some of you have tough times in
your families. Some of you have had the greatest week of your lives! Some of you are
full of love, and some of you are pretty upset with someone. But no matter what the
differences are, God’s love is for all of us. Point to different kids as you say this. God
loves you. And, God loves you. And, God loves you. God wants to fill every single heart
with His love.
The kids will stand in one big circle. A circle shows how we are connected to one
another. Each time another person decides to love God too, they join the circle of
believers. God will not let us say, “We don’t want you in the circle.” That’s what the
Jews were saying to Paul in our Bible story. They were saying, “We don’t want the
Gentiles in the circle. We don’t want the Gentiles in our circle!” They were wrong!
There’s always room for another person. It doesn’t matter who they are or what
they’ve done, they can join the circle if they accept God’s love.
Dear God, thank you for loving me and giving me your grace and forgiveness. Please
forgive me if I have judged someone, and haven’t wanted them to be loved by You.
Help me to remember that You love everyone and that You sent Jesus for every single
person. Although we all go through different things and come from different places,
please bring us together to show our love to You.
Take Home Reminder
Supplies:
puzzle pieces
You can buy a 100-piece puzzle, or even a 1,000-piece puzzle for a few dollars. Check
out the thrift stores or garage sales for great deals. If you want to go a step further, print
off small label stickers that say, “Jesus is for everyone” and stick them on each puzzle
piece. Give each child a puzzle piece to take home.
You might think that, because you look different, or have a different story from
someone else, you aren’t as special to God. Hear me loud and clear. God loves every
one of us the same! Each puzzle piece is different from the other, but they all fit
together in the puzzle. None of us are exactly alike, even if we’re twins, but we all fit in
with God. Take home your puzzle piece to remind you that God’s love is for everyone
Blessing
May you look at every person you meet as someone God loves.