Paul had been falsely accused of causing trouble in Jerusalem. Although innocent of these accusations, he was kept prisoner in Caesarea and made to appear before a succession of governors and leaders, including Felix, Festus and even King Agrippa. At each court appearance, Paul spoke freely about his Christian faith. His accusers could never prove him guilty, and Paul eventually used his right as a Roman citizen to ask to be sent to Rome to appear before Caesar's court.
Emphasise using every opportunity to tell others about Jesus.
Bible verses used in this episode:
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Full teaching instructions free from Mission Bible Class:
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
Paul was under arrest in Jerusalem because of false accusations by the Jews. Paul’s Roman citizenship demanded a fair hearing, so the Roman commander in charge set up a meeting with Jewish priests and the Sanhedrin. This meeting ended in chaos, with Paul back in protective custody.
Paul’s young nephew overheard some of the Jews plotting to kill Paul, so Paul asked him to tell the commander. The commander had no choice but to arrange a large military escort to take Paul to Caesarea, the nearest headquarters of Roman rule.
One night, amidst all these events, Jesus appeared to Paul and told him to have courage because he would be going to Rome to testify about his faith.
Emphasise that young people can do great things for God. Don’t wait until you get “older” to serve God.
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Full teaching instructions free from Mission Bible Class:
Bible Lesson: Paul’s Nephew Uncovers a Plot
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
At the conclusion of his third missionary journey, Paul followed the direction of the Holy Spirit in making his way to Jerusalem. As he stopped along the way, many Christians warned him of the dangers awaiting him. In Caesarea, a man named Agabus prophesied that the Jews in Jerusalem would harm Paul if he went there. Despite all of these warnings, Paul was determined to obey the Holy Spirit. In Jerusalem, Paul met with an angry crowd and was arrested. None of this stopped Paul from preaching about Jesus.
Emphasise having the determination to do what is right even when challenges arise.
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Full teaching instructions free from Mission Bible Class:
Bible Lesson: Paul Goes to Jerusalem
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
In the last stages of his third missionary journey, Paul stopped in Troas and met with the church in an upstairs room. During Paul’s very long preaching, a young man named Eutychus went to sleep and fell out of a window and onto the ground below. Paul miraculously brought the boy back to life.
For a practical lesson, help students understand how to pay attention and participate with the church in listening when God’s Word is being preached.
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Bible Lesson: Eutychus Falls from a Window
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
During his third missionary journey, Paul returned to Ephesus and spent three years there. He taught about Jesus in the synagogue and a city school. Some of the most unusual miracles in the Book of Acts occurred during Paul’s stay in Ephesus. They were so convincing that magicians and sorcerers burned their expensive sorcery books and turned to God. So many people stopped worshipping idols (and buying idol statues) that a silversmith named Demetrius led a riot against Paul.
Jesus is more powerful than any power in heaven or earth. Tusting in practices such as sorcery, magic, witchcraft, or horoscopes is trusting in another power above Jesus.
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Bible Lesson: Paul and the Dark Powers of Ephesus
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
In Corinth, Paul met a couple named Priscilla and Aquila. The three of them built tents together to earn a living. Whenever he was not making tents, Paul taught people about Jesus. After a year and a half, Paul, Priscilla and Aquila travelled to the city of Ephesus together. Priscilla and Aquila stayed in Ephesus to make tents and tell people about Jesus, while Paul went on to Antioch. A while later, when a great teacher named Apollos came to Ephesus, Priscilla and Aquila invited him to their house and explained baptism’s real meaning. Apollos was grateful and went on to Corinth, where he continued to share the good news of Jesus.
In whatever career or job we choose, we can play our part in helping others know about God.
Bible verses used in this episode:
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Full teaching instructions free from Mission Bible Class:
Bible Lesson: Priscilla and Aquila
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
Paul continued his second Missionary Journey by stopping in the wealthy and cultured city of Athens. Idols and altars of false gods filled the city. Paul addressed a group of philosophers meeting on a rock hill called the Areopagus (Mars Hill). Idols were humanity's attempt to make gods, but Paul preached that humans cannot make the true God. God has created humans, and all that is in the world. There is only one God, and it is wrong to put anything above him.
God is the only one worthy of our worship. We should not think or act as any person or thing is more important than him.
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Bible Lesson: Paul Preaches in Athens-Mars Hill
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
Paul continues his 2nd Missionary Journey by visiting the cities of Thessalonica and Berea. Several people began to follow Jesus in Thessalonica, but others were jealous and caused trouble. Paul went on to Berea where the people received the message of Jesus with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul said was true. Troublemakers from Thessalonica soon followed and caused so much trouble that the Christians escorted Paul to Athens for his own safety.d
We should follow the example of the Bereans and study Scripture to understand what is true.
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Bible Lesson: The Noble Bereans
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
Paul cast an evil spirit out of a young slave girl, but her owners were angry and brought Paul and Silas before the city magistrates. Even though they were both beaten and thrown into prison, they were heard singing hymns and praying to God during the night. After an earthquake, Paul and Silas taught the jailer and his household about Jesus. Before the night was over, they were all baptised. The next day, Paul and Silas were released from prison.
In Christ, we can experience true joy despite our circumstances.
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Bible Lesson: A Jailer Becomes a Christian
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
After sailing to Macedonia, Paul arrived in the city of Philippi. When he found a group of women gathered beside a river praying, he told them about Jesus. One of the women was Lydia, a businesswoman who sold expensive purple fabric. When Lydia heard about Jesus, she was baptised. Then, everyone in her household was baptised, too. Lydia was so happy that she invited Paul and his friends to stay at her house.
Baptism was a natural response to the message about Jesus. Use this opportunity to discuss the meaning of baptism.
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Bible Lesson: Lydia Becomes a Christian
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
Paul suggested to Barnabas that they re-visit the churches they had established on their 1st missionary journey. Before leaving Antioch, he and Barnabas disagreed over who they should take with them, so they took different people and went to different places. Paul re-visited churches and attempted to enter new areas to teach people about Jesus. The Holy Spirit actively guided Paul and his companions, and one night, Paul had a vision of a man from the region of Macedonia standing and begging him to come and help. By entering Macedonia on this, his 2nd missionary journey, Paul will now taking the Gospel to Europe for the first time.
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Bible Lesson: Macedonian Vision
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
The Holy Spirit directed the Antioch church to send Barnabas and Saul on a mission trip to teach people about Christ. This trip is often called “Paul’s First Missionary Journey”. One of the stops on this journey was the city of Lystra, where Paul healed a man who had never been able to walk. A frenzied crowd first worshipped Paul and Barnabas as gods, then turned on them and stoned Paul. Despite this, Paul miraculously stood up after the crowd left as if not injured. After revisiting some of the previous stops, Paul and Barnabas returned to the Antioch church to tell them all of the things God had done.
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Bible Lesson: An Angry Crowd in Lystra
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
King Herod (King of the Jewish people) persecuted Christians and ordered the arrest of the apostle Peter. The whole church was very afraid, so they gathered together in a house to pray. While they were praying, an angel visited Peter’s prison cell and miraculously released him. Peter found his way to the house where the church was praying. Peter then went into hiding. Herod continued to seek public approval desperately and even allowed people to praise him as if he were God. An angel struck Herod with an illness, and he died a terrible death.
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Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
Barnabas was already known as a great encourager, so when the church in Jerusalem heard about all of the new Gentile believers in Antioch, they sent Barnabas to help. He encouraged the Antioch believers, and even more people followed King Jesus. Then he travelled to Tarsus and found Paul so that Paul could come and help, too. This was a great mission-minded church. Followers of Jesus were first called Christians at this church.
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Bible Lesson: The Antioch Church
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
Until the conversion of Cornelius, the gospel message had been preached almost exclusively to Jewish people. Any Gentile (anyone not born into a Jewish family) who wanted to follow Jesus would have first converted to Judaism. But the good news of Jesus was for everyone and not just the Jews. God used a vision of animals on a sheet and a miraculous pouring out of the Holy Spirit to reveal this important truth to the Apostle Peter and those he was teaching. Following this, Peter baptised Cornelius, a Roman centurion, making Cornelius the first Gentile to become a Christian.
God wants everyone to hear about Him and become Christians.
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Bible Lesson: Cornelius Becomes a Christian
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
Dorcas (or Tabitha) was a woman who “was always doing good and helping the poor” in her city of Joppa. When she died, everyone was very sad, and they called Peter to come to her house. When Peter arrived, all the widows were crying and showing the clothing that Dorcas had made for them. Peter sent all of them out of the room and then, by the power of God, made Dorcas come back to life.
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Bible Lesson: Dorcas is Raised from the Dead
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
Saul (later known by his Roman name, Paul) threatened and hurt followers of Jesus. On the way to persecute disciples in Damascus, Saul experienced an encounter with Jesus that changed his life. Following his baptism, Saul immediately began preaching the truth about Jesus, making the astonished Jews in Damascus plot to kill him. One night, the disciples snuck Saul over the city walls in a basket. He went on to Jerusalem but was not safe there either. Saul's life was immediately and completely changed by Jesus. He continued to preach about Jesus for the rest of his life and often suffered because of it.
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Bible Lesson: Saul (Paul) Becomes a Christian
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
Merry Christmas from David and Mary.
We will be back to producing episodes in January.
If you would like to review past episodes relating to the Christmas stories follow the links below:
"Joy to the World" music by Bohdan Kuzmin from Pixabay
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
Title:
Philip followed instructions from an angel of the Lord and went to a very important man riding in a chariot. The man was a chief official of the Queen of Ethiopia. He was reading from a scroll of Isaiah but could not understand it. Philip joined him in the chariot and explained that the Scripture was talking about Jesus. The man began to believe in Jesus, and when the chariot passed by some water, the official asked Philip to baptise him (and he did!)
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Full teaching instructions free from Mission Bible Class:
Bible Lesson: Philip Teaches the Man from Ethiopia
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
Philip was one of the original seven helpers in the church. When he preached in Samaria, a well-known sorcerer (or magician) named Simon believed and became a Christian. Simon had only ever done clever magic tricks, so he was amazed when he saw real miracles performed. When the apostles came to Samaria, Simon noticed that they laid hands on people to give them the power to do miracles. Simon wanted to have that power. He offered to pay lots of money if the apostles would sell him the same power they had. One of the apostles, Peter, told Simon that no one can buy the power of God. God gives the power.
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Bible Lesson: Simon the Sorcerer
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
Stephen preached to people about Jesus and God. Some of the Jews got so angry about this that they told lies about Stephen and had him taken before the Jewish court (Sanhedrin). Stephen bravely preached a sermon about how people like them had rejected God before. And now they had rejected Jesus, the one God wanted Israel to follow as their leader and king. Some of the Jews became so angry at Stephen that they threw stones at him until he died. Stephen was the first martyr of the Christian faith.
From this time forward, followers of Jesus were treated very badly, and many left Jerusalem to live in other places. Everywhere they went, Christians told about Jesus.
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Bible Lesson: The Stoning of Stephen
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
Many Jews were becoming followers of Jesus in Jerusalem. Needy widows were given food every day, but some were being left out. Instead of neglecting their teaching and preaching time to address this food problem, the apostles asked the Christians to choose seven faithful men to care for the widows and serve the church in this way.
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Bible Lesson: Helpers in the Church
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
Because so many Jewish Christians stayed in Jerusalem after Pentecost, some Christians sold property and gave the money to the church so those in need could have enough. Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, sold some of their property and then decided to give part of the money to the church. They proceeded to lie and say that they had given it all. Peter confronted Ananias in front of the church and told him that by doing this, he had lied to God. Ananias fell over dead. Unaware of what had happened to her husband, Sapphira came before the church and lied again about the money. She also fell over dead. The whole church was afraid.
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Bible Lesson: Ananias and Sapphira
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
As Peter and John were passing through the temple gate, a man who was unable to walk begged money from them. Instead of giving him money, Peter miraculously healed him by the power of Jesus. Peter followed this by preaching a convicting sermon to the amazed people who had witnessed the healed man.
Concerned that so many people were turning to Jesus, the Jewish leaders imprisoned Peter and John and instructed them to keep silent about Jesus. These two apostles refused to be quiet and said that they must speak about the things they had seen and heard.
Jesus is powerful, and we should tell people about him.
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Full teaching instructions free from Mission Bible Class:
Bible Lesson: Peter and John Heal a Man Who Could Not Walk
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org
Title:
The early church was full of excitement as they saw more and more people becoming Christians every day. Many people who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost stayed longer to be with the rest of the new Christians. The church devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread (Lord’s Supper), and prayer.
The church is not a building but is made up of Christians. The church today does the same things as the early church.
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Full teaching instructions free from Mission Bible Class:
Bible Lesson: The First Church
Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.
For questions or comments email: mary@missionbibleclass.org