Paul and Silas in Ephesus

Passage

Familiarize yourself with the following passage:

Acts 19

Paul and Silas traveled to the city of Ephesus. They started by preaching the Good News in the synagogue, trying to persuade their fellow Jews to believe in Jesus. They did this for three months, but when some of these men started speaking out against Jesus, Paul and Silas left the synagogue. They began meeting every day with the true disciples. They did this for two years! Eventually ever person in the province of Asia, both Jew and Greek, heard about Jesus.
During this time, God was using Paul to perform amazing miracles. Some of the Jews saw this and began saying to evil spirits, ‘I command you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches!’ In one such time, a demon responded to these Jews by saying , “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” The man who was filled with the evil spirit then leaped on the Jews and hurt them badly. Everyone in the area heard this things and gave praise to Jesus. They turned from their evil ways and practices and worshiped Jesus instead.
In the city of Ephesus there was a man named Demetrius who made idols out of silver to fake gods. When Demetrius heard of all that Paul was doing, and that people were turning to God rather than to the idols he was making, he became angry. He encouraged others to rise up with him and start a riot. There became so much confusion, that the city clerk had to calm the people down. God protected Paul and Silas, and the clerk spoke calming words to the people and sent them each to their own homes.

Object Lesson

Supplies needed:
• Bowl
• Water
• Pepper
• Wooden spoon
• Dish soap
• Paper towel
Directions:
1. Filled the bowl with water. Sprinkle pepper on the top of the water.
2. Remind the kids of the Jews who tried to cast out an evil spirit. They themselves did not believe in Jesus. They only wanted to use the power that they saw Paul using. Because they did not believe in Jesus, they were not protected when the evil spirit attacked them.
3. Take a wooden spoon and dip it in the pepper water. As you pull the spoon out, the pepper should stick to the spoon. Just like the Jewish men were not protected from the evil spirit, the spoon was not protected from the pepper in the water.
4. Add some more pepper to the bowl of water. Clean off your spoon with a paper towel.
5. Remind the kids of how God protected Paul and Silas from the angry mob in Ephesus.
6. Rub a little bit of dish soap to both sides of the wooden spoon. Dip the spoon into the pepper water. As you pull the spoon out, the spoon should be clean of pepper. Just like God protected Paul and Silas, the soap on the spoon protected the spoon from being covered with pepper.

Memory Verse

Romans 8:38-39
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus Connection:

God desires our full devotion. It is not good enough to just know of Jesus (Acts 19:15). We must have a living and active relationship with our Savior. When we have this kind of relationship with him, we do not need to fear evil. While this relationship with Jesus does not necessarily protect us from physical harm, it does protect us from spiritual harm. With Jesus in our lives, “nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!” (Romans 8:38-39)

Songs

He’s God the Whole World In His Hands

He's got the whole world
In His hands
He's got the whole world
In His hands
He's got the whole world
In His hands
He's got the whole world in His hands

He's got the mommies and the daddies
In his hands
He's got the mommies and the daddies
In his hands
He's got the mommies and the daddies
In his hands
He's got the whole world in His hands

He's got the brothers and the sisters
In His hands
He's got the brothers and the sisters
In His hands
He's got the brothers and the sisters
In His hands
He's got the whole world in His hands

He's got [insert child's name]
In His hands
He's got [insert child's name]
He's got [insert child's name]
He's got the whole world in His hands.

Games/Activities

In Jesus’ Name

Supplies needed:
• Wooden blocks (or other non connecting blocks)
• Soft balls
Directions:
1. Before class, on one side of the room, set up a large structure using the wooden blocks. Use your imagination; have fun.
2. Have the children gather on the opposite side of the room from the block structure.
3. Explain to the children, that when we believe in Jesus and call on him name, evil strongholds are destroyed!
4. One at a time, give each child a soft ball. Before they can throw the ball, they must say something they believe about Jesus. (Jesus is God! Jesus is alive! Jesus loves me! Jesus took away my sins!....) After they make their declaration, they can throw their soft ball at the block structure. Continue through all the children until they have all had a chance to throw a ball, or until the structure you built has been completely destroyed.
5. If the structure is destroyed before all children have had an opportunity to go, rebuild quickly (with the kids help if there is time) and continue.

My Protector

Supplies needed:
• Dice
• A random object
Directions:
1. Before class, pre designate various parts of the room into 6 spots to correlate to the 6 numbers on the dice.
2. Start by handing one child the random object you brought with you to class.
3. Before each dice roll, the children can stand in any section of the room they choose.  When you roll the dice, announce the number that is rolled and the children in that section of the room are out. (They can join you in the center of the room and you can even give them the chance to roll the dice next.)
4. If the child with the random object is in the group that is rolled out, that child is saved by the object and continues to play.
5. After each roll, give a different child the random object.
6. Play until you have one child left who win.

Crafts

Coloring Page