Saul Escapes in a Basket

Saul Escapes in a Basket Acts 9:20-31 January 16, 2011 On Our Plate Today Help kids understand: The story of Saul escaping from Damascus in a basket. That Saul s life was changed by God, and he had to prove it through his actions. That our actions show others how God changed us. Activity Choose three students to come to the front. The kids in the audience should take a good look at the three who are standing up front. Then, send the three volunteers out into the hall where they will change three things about themselves. They can change their hair, take off an earring, trade shoes with each other, turn their belt around, remove a ribbon, or any big or small change, but it must be something that is noticeable. They will only have a few seconds, so they ll need to make the changes quickly. Then, call the three volunteers back in and see if the rest of the students can guess what three things each person changed. Some of you were really good at noticing changes! In today s Bible story, God changed someone big time, and it took some convincing to get everyone else to see the changes God had made in this person s life! In fact, they almost didn t believe God had changed him. Because they didn t believe him, some people tried to capture and kill him! But he got away in a very cool way! This is another exciting true story from God s Word! Activity There s an outrageous game of Hide and Seek going on, and a giant basket seems to be a great place to hide. But, that basket brings a Bible story to mind. Let s see if we can uncover what s hiding in this basket. video - The Great Escape Copyright 2010 KidzMatter Ministries Inc. All Rights Reserved. Watch The Great Escape. 1 www.kidzmatter.com

Bible Account The Bible story was told in the video, but here s another way to reiterate the story and drive it home for the kids. If you don t have a squeaky gavel, you can use a real gavel (or a meat tenderizer!) squeaky toy gavel There was a man named Saul who was a Christian-hater! He hunted down Christians and hurt them and even killed them! But then, God got hold of His life and changed him, and Saul became a Christian! He was so passionate for God and couldn t stop sharing about how God changed his life. But not everyone believed that he was a changed man! Lots of people were suspicious of Saul. As the story is told, the children will pretend that they are a jury. Do you know what a jury is? When there is a person who is accused of a crime, they go to court, and sometimes a group of people called a jury, listens to all the evidence. Then, the jury decides if they believe the person or not. Is the person guilty of the crime or is he innocent? The person in our make-believe trial is accused of being a Christian. You are going to listen to his story and decide whether or not God has really changed his life. Listen very carefully! I have my judge s gavel here, and when I squeak the gavel, I will ask your opinion. That s when I want you to share what you think about this person. The person in our trial is Saul. Saul, who used to be a Christian-hater, all of a sudden started hanging out with the disciples and some other Christians, in a city called Damascus! (Squeak the gavel). That is the first piece of evidence. Here he was, a man who killed Christians, and he was hanging out with Christians! If you would have believed that Saul really was a changed man, give me a thumbs-up. If you wouldn t have believed him, give me a thumbs-down. Then Saul started preaching about Jesus! He taught in the synagogues where all the people gathered! Why would he be preaching about Jesus? He used to hate people who did that! (Squeak the gavel.) Would you have believed he was changed after you heard him preach or was it just an act? Thumbs-up or thumbs-down. The people were a little uncertain. OK, not really. They were a lot uncertain! They didn t quite know what to think. They knew who Saul was and what he had done. That made them plenty afraid. What if he was acting undercover and was really there to kill them? Something about him seemed different though. He worshipped with the disciples and became friends with them. (Squeak the gavel). Now, would you believe him? Thumbs-up or thumbs-down. Saul stayed there and spent a lot of time studying the Bible and praying. He seemed to be growing as a Christian and as a preacher. Some of the people just weren t sure what to think. Some of the Jews were afraid, so they made a plan to kill Saul get rid of him for good. They watched him very closely and guarded the city gates so he couldn t get out. Saul might have been afraid. How would he get out of the city? He wanted to preach about Jesus, but his life was in danger. He needed to escape! (Squeak the gavel) If Saul kept preaching even though his life was in danger, would you believe him then? Thumbs-up or thumbs-down. Since there was no way for Saul to get out of the city and the Jews were trying to kill him, he had to make a great escape! Some of his friends carefully put Saul in a big basket. Really! Saul climbed in a basket. They waited until it was late at night and very dark out so no one would see. Then they tied the basket to a rope and lowered it over the city wall, with Saul inside! Once Saul got safely on the ground, he escaped and was safe! He went to stay with a friend named Barnabas. Saul kept on preaching and sharing the good news of Jesus, even though people were still afraid of him. God protected him and used him to change the lives of many people. 2 www.kidzmatter.com

(Squeak the gavel). Boys and girls of the jury, I want you to look at all the evidence you have seen in this story. If you were going to declare this man guilty or not guilty of being a Christian, what would you say? Is there enough evidence from what you have seen of his life to convict him as guilty of being a Christian? Game For each laundry basket that you have choose two kids. One of the kids will get in the laundry basket and the other will push/pull it. Saul and the friends who were helping him escape had to get up the wall of the city and then let Saul down over the other side. At the signal, each laundry basket (with kid inside) has to be pushed or pulled to the other end of the room. That s up one side of the wall. Then, they have to turn around and come back. That s down the other side of the wall. When they get all the way back, they have to yell, I m free! The winning pair will be asked one of the following questions about the story. laundry baskets Choose other pairs of kids to complete the laundry basket race for other questions. Questions What was Saul like before he was a Christian? Why were the people afraid of Saul? Who wanted to kill Saul? Why was it difficult to believe Saul was really a Christian? How did Saul get out of the city? What time of day did Saul make his escape? How did Saul live after he became a Christian? Who was the friend that Saul stayed with once he escaped? Message What was Saul escaping from? People other Christians who didn t believe he was changed. Saul had been so dramatically and radically changed by God that Christians found it hard to believe! PowerPoint slides I want you to think about your own life right now. If you were put on trial and a jury was going to decide if you were guilty of being a Christian or not, would there be enough evidence in your life for the jury to convict you as guilty of being a Christian? Or would your life look just like someone who doesn t know Jesus? Is there a difference in how you live? Is there a difference in how you treat people? Do you have different priorities? What can we take away from this story? God gave us the stories in the Bible so that we could learn from them, so what do we learn from Saul s experience? People might not believe you (Show slide #1) If everybody is always happy with you, you might be doing something wrong. If everyone is always okay with what you say, then you re probably not being very bold about sharing God s love. The Good News about Jesus is radical. When we live it out, our lives look different from everyone else s and sometimes people get offended. Sometimes people make fun of Christians. God tells us in the Bible that the world will not like Christians, because they live differently. There sure were plenty of people who didn t want Jesus around. 3 www.kidzmatter.com

Look up and read together John 15:18-19. If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Turn to your neighbor and share in your own words what the Bible means when it says the world will hate the followers of Christ. People will see Jesus in you (Show slide #2) Saul had been changed into a new creation. Look up and read 2 Corinthians 5:17. Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! What a great verse! This verse says that when someone accepts Christ, that person becomes new! That means God completely changes your heart and you become a new person a child of God, adopted into His family. Saul wasn t the same person after He met Jesus. In fact, he was changed so much that people had a hard time believing it was true. Caterpillar (Show slide # 3) Look at this caterpillar. He just looks like a big fat worm. Cocoon (Show slide #4) The caterpillar spins this case around his body called a cocoon. He stays there for a long time. While he s in there, an incredible change takes place. Butterfly (Show slide #5) When the cocoon opens up, a beautiful butterfly comes out. The caterpillar was changed into a brand new, totally different creature. When you confess your sins to God, accept the sacrifice that Jesus made, and let the Holy Spirit lead you, then you ve become a brand new creature. Your life looks completely different than before and you act differently. Once you are a new creation, God will use your life to show others about Him. You get to show Jesus to people who don t know Him! What a big job! But, how can you do that? Look up and read John 13:34-35. A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, all men will know that you are my disciples. If you are really a follower of Jesus, your life will show it. Every part of your life! Your life will be filled with evidence called the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. You will treat people the way Jesus would treat them. You will love the way Jesus loves. Now, here s the really big question: Does this describe your life? Object Lesson How long do you think this match will burn if I strike it and put it in this pan? Let s take guesses. Does anyone think it will burn for more than 3 seconds? More than 25 seconds? More than 5 minutes? More than 30 minutes? Strike a match and hold it up so the kids can see the fire. Then drop the match in the metal pan. matches metal pan It will not burn very long on its own! But what if I use this match to light a huge pile of wood? Do you think the fire would burn a lot longer? Of course it will, because the little fire from the match would spread to the logs. 4 www.kidzmatter.com

A fire that doesn t spread goes out. We need to spread the Gospel in an urgent way, because people s lives are at stake! If we keep the good news of Jesus to ourselves, we are like this match sitting in a metal pan, all by ourselves. But if we get on fire for God and passionately share Jesus with others, like Saul did, then God s message will spread and people will be changed! Science Experiment Before the lesson, use the permanent marker to carefully draw a face on a raw egg, or let the kids take turns carefully decorating a few eggs with faces. Ask the kids if they think it is possible to stand at the top of the stepladder and drop the egg onto the floor without breaking it. If you re brave and have a tarp down, invite a few kids to come up and try it. You know the outcome the egg will break when it hits the ground! But if you make a special basket to carry the egg in, it won t break! When Saul s friends lowered him over the wall in a basket, they had to make sure it was sturdy, because they had precious cargo in it! Pretend like the egg is Saul. Your job is to get him safely to the ground so he can carry the Gospel to others. Here is one method of getting the egg to the ground safely. Wad up some paper towels and fill a Ziplock bag with them. Nestle the egg down inside the bag with the paper towels surrounding it. Then, place the Ziplock bag in a shoebox that is full of packing peanuts. Use a couple of pieces of shipping tape to tape the box shut. The egg now has a protective barrier. You re ready to drop the egg. This time it shouldn t break! Open the box and show the unbroken egg. The kids will love this experiment, and they will love dropping the egg in its special shoebox basket! raw eggs ziplock bag paper towels packing peanuts shoebox shipping tape stepladder tarp permanent marker When God gives you a special message, you need to take extra special care of it! You need to be aware that everything you do could break your testimony! Others need to see that you re for real, but they also need to see you following God with your whole heart. Be careful that nothing you do will move people away from God. Saul knew that. He was careful to preach the truth of God and to love others. But, he also knew that he had to escape when he was in danger so that he could keep telling others about how God had changed his life. Message - Part 2 So far, we ve learned two things from the story of Saul: (1) People might not believe you, and (2) People will see Jesus in you. The last thing we learn from this story about Saul is that PowerPoint slide #6 God will set you free (Show slide #6) Look up and read together Acts 9:28 - So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. He moved about FREELY he was free! Free from the people who wanted to kill him, but more importantly, he was free from his sin! He used his freedom to boldly share how Jesus had changed his life and how Jesus could do the same for everyone! Activity This is an amazing, fun, and simple rope trick that will really drive home the idea of being free. You 3 piece of rope really don t want to pass up this activity! Read the instructions that follow or check out a demonstration blanket video to make it super clear at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd9alvq1sa4&feature=related. 5 www.kidzmatter.com

Use this activity to demonstrate being free. The exact length of the rope doesn t matter much, but it should ideally be at least 3 feet. Practice doing this before you present it in front of the kids! First, lay the middle of the rope across one wrist (arm is palm side up). Wrap the rope around the wrist twice, crisscrossing the rope on the inside of the wrist. Now, place both wrists against one another and flip the hands so that the wrapped wrist is on top. Ask an assistant to tie the rope around your other wrist so it looks like your wrists are securely tied together (palms would be facing each other). The rope really makes a little figure eight around your wrists, but the audience can t see the cross in the middle. When your assistant ties the rope around your wrists, make a big deal about how it should be really tight so you can t get out of it! Then you will put your wrists under a blanket, table, or behind a wall to do the escape part. To get out of it, you will simply twist your wrist (uncross the figure 8) and your hand will slip right out! (When the rope is tied tight around your wrists.) How many of you think I can get out of this? It looks very difficult! The ropes are tied tightly around my wrists! My escape seems impossible. In the Bible story, Saul was in a tight position too. Saul had people after him, trying to kill him, and it looked impossible for him to get out! But, we need to remember that with God, even the impossible becomes possible. Watch as I put my hands under this blanket. Put your hands under a blanket or under a table where the kids can t see. Ready? One, two, three! Twist your wrists and free your hands. Hold them up for the kids to see. When Saul changed and became an incredible follower of Christ, he was freed from his old way of life. Christians found it hard to believe that Saul could actually be free from the horrible sinful way he lived, but God really did change Saul. Here s the news that really rocks our world! You and me and every other person on this planet have the same opportunity to have a changed life, just like Saul. It may be hard to believe that God can change your life in a drastic way, but just give Him the chance. You can be free from your old ways. He ll show you! Prayer What do you need to be free of? Do you need to ask God to change your life in a drastic way? Do you need to be set free from the sins that you ve gotten yourself into? Do you need to come back to the God who created you? Have you let your mouth say things that it shouldn t say? Do you need to be set free from a filthy mouth? Have you been bullying other kids? Do you need to be set free from having to feel like you re big and bad? Are you too comfortable with telling little lies? Do you need to be set free from lying? Are you full of anger at your parents? Do you need to be set free from your awful anger? scrap paper pencils basket We can become a prisoner to all kinds of things, but God wants us to be free in Him. We need to get free of the wrong things, so people can see Jesus in us. Write on the paper something that grabs hold of your life and keeps you doing something that you know displeases God. What is it that you have a hard time shaking? No matter what you write on the paper, God has the power to free you from it, if that s what your heart wants. Give the kids the opportunity to pray a silent prayer about what they wrote on their paper. Place a basket in the center of the room, and when they have prayed, they can place their piece of paper in the basket. The basket was how Saul got his freedom from the people who were after him, but his real freedom (and ours too) comes from having a relationship with God. Close in a group prayer, asking God to free each person from the things that shouldn t be in their lives. Express the desire to live lives that show Jesus to the world. Amen. 6 www.kidzmatter.com

Take Home Reminder You can purchase mini-baskets from Oriental Trading for $3.99 per dozen, or in the party or craft section of your discount department store. mini-baskets Each person will take home a miniature basket as a reminder of Saul s miraculous escape in a basket. God had a plan for Saul s life, and He made sure Saul escaped, even if it was by being lowered over a wall in a basket! Blessing May you live so that others notice the change God has made in your life. E x t r a Ac t i v i t i e s Scripture Memorization Galatians 5:1 (GNT) Freedom is what we have Christ has set us free! Stand, then, as free people, and do not allow yourselves to become slaves again. Divide the verse into the following segments: Freedom is what we have Christ has set us free Stand, then, as free people And do not allow yourselves To become slaves again. Choose a child who is musically inclined and has great rhythm to lead this memorization activity. Or, you may want to do it, since the kids have not been working on this verse very long. The leader will create a rhythm for the first segment (above) and clap along with it. (If you have rhythm sticks for the kids, it would be fun to use them instead of clapping.) The kids will repeat that segment to the same rhythm, mirroring the clapping of the leader. Then, say the next segment with a new rhythm. The kids will repeat it, along with the rhythm, just as you have said. Continue doing this until you have done all five segments. If you have time, other kids may want to lead the rhythms. Music Your kids (and you too) are going to enjoy singing along with Yancy. The two songs that have been provided for you are: Always Be and For Your Glory. Saul thought that he was persecuting Christians for God s glory, but God showed him differently. Once Saul changed, everything he did was so that God would get the glory. Our lives should do the same. music DVDs If you d like more Yancy music, check out www.yancynotnancy.com. 7 www.kidzmatter.com

Activity There is a saying by Saint Francis of Assisi, Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words. What does that mean? It means that your life should speak for itself. If you have been changed and saved by God, your life should tell the story of that change. Your actions should tell the difference God has made in your life. What do you think it means to preach the gospel with your actions? Can you give any examples? Some Christians in our world are not allowed to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ out loud. It is illegal for them to speak about it! The only way people can see Jesus is through their actions. Their lives have to speak louder than words. Their lives have to be filled with radical love, forgiveness, grace, humility and holiness, so that people will notice how different they are. Place the kids in small groups (3 or 4) with an assignment. They must come up with a scenario where they can show that they live differently because of a changed life through Jesus. Then, give them the opportunity to act out their scenario for everyone. (If you have a really large group, send different leaders out to watch the different scenes.) Encourage the groups to include in their skit how people notice when someone has been changed. Activity The following is a letter that someone wrote to the person who had introduced him to Jesus. Read it to the children. paper and pencils I want to let you know that I recently became a Christian, and it is all your fault. I knew nothing about Jesus, and I had no desire to know Him. Then I met you. You changed everything for me. I saw the way you lit up with a shining light and joy that came from deep inside you. I saw the sincere, real love you had for others, and not just people who were nice to you, but real love for your enemies too. I saw that your values were different from mine, and yet you stood by them, no matter what. I saw that you had purpose and meaning to your life. When everyone else seemed scared and afraid, you had confidence and hope. I wanted to know why. When I found out, I saw that the difference was because you had Jesus. And I wanted to know Jesus for myself. Thank you for introducing me to Jesus. This letter is just an example of what can happen if someone is sold out to Christ and boldly living for Jesus. The way you live speaks loudly! People who don t know Jesus are hungry for something more. What does your life say about Jesus? What kind of Jesus are you showing the world? The kids will think about their lives and write a letter, similar to the one just read, that describes what someone might see about Jesus if they looked at their life. Encourage them to look at their priorities, the way they live and treat people, their morals and values, beliefs, attitudes, and the way they spend their time. Then, each child will write a letter that describes how someone from the outside might see Jesus in his/her life. 8 www.kidzmatter.com

Craft The basket in our story was used for something very unusual. It was used to help Saul escape from the city of Damascus where people were trying to kill him. Those people didn t believe that Saul was a for-real Christian. They thought he was pretending so he could get information about them. Even when they didn t believe that his life was changed, Saul kept living for Jesus. Using a basket, Saul s friends helped him escape over the city wall. The basket was the symbol of Saul s rescue from danger and his freedom from his past sins. We re going to make our own baskets to remind us that just like Saul, we must keep living a life changed by Jesus no matter what! The kids will make a basket from an empty 2-liter bottle. Follow these instructions. #1 Beforehand, use a black permanent marker to draw a line around each empty (and cleaned out) 2-liter bottle, about 5 inches from the bottom. #2 Also, beforehand, cut a slit along this line using a box cutter, so the kids have a place to start cutting with their scissors. #3 The kids will poke their scissors into the slit and cut along the black line until the bottom of the 2-liter is separated from the rest of the bottle. Throw the top part away. #4 Use a hole punch to make 2 holes opposite one another, about 1 from the top edge. These will be holes for the handle. #5 Cut a piece of jute twine for the handle, 10-12 long. Tie each end through the holes. This is the handle for the basket. #6 Mix some glue and water in equal amounts in a foil pan. Add drops of all colors, which will give you brown. Use small squares of the tissue paper to cover the 2-liter base, basket. The kids will dip their tissue paper in the glue mixture, then place it on the basket. Smooth each piece. Cover the entire outside with pieces of overlapping tissue paper. Once everything is dry, the kids will have a basket that they can actually carry something in! empty 2-liter bottles hole punch jute twine scissors permanent marker white tissue paper food coloring glue & water mixture foil pie pans box cutter 9 www.kidzmatter.com