Acts 21:1-28
“Are You Ready!”
Scripture: Acts 21:1-28
Memory Verse: “Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord
is.” Ephesians 5:17
Lesson Focus: To follow God no matter what!
Activities and Crafts: Coloring Page,
Introduction: Skit: Who will you follow?
Choose some of the kids or some of the leaders to read and act out the following
Skit:
Characters:
Danny: A 3rd Grade Boy
Sissy: A 3rd Grade Girl
Bobby: A friend from church
Ruth: A neighborhood friend
Danny: (before he leaves for school) Reads his Bible and prays. Hey, God its
Danny will You help me to follow You today? Thanks, Amen!”
Danny: (As he get’s to school) Hey, Sissy what are you doing?
Sissy: I’m just thinking about the contest at school.
Danny: Oh, I know. I can’t believe that you can win an I Pad. Man do I need
that.
Sissy: No you don’t. You have every new tech gadget that there is. Our
computer at home is so old and out dated that I can hardly use the internet.
Danny: Well, it will be pretty hard to right an essay without using the
internet or any books…. I mean what do I know about the history of the
United States.
Sissy: I know that it will be hard, but I guess they are trying to see what we do
know already and what we care about.
Danny: Hey, there is Bobby and Ruth….Hi guys!
Bobby: Hi
Ruth: Hi
Bobby: What are you guys talking about?
Sissy: We were just talking about the Essay contest and that we both would love
to win that IPad.
Bobby: I know that is sick!
Bobby: I want to win so bad, I started righting my essay yesterday. It is really
hard not to use the internet or any books.
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Ruth: Man, I am going to use the internet…how will they ever know? I’m going
to use whatever I can to win.
Sissy: Well, I will too.
Danny: Well…I don’t know…
Bobby: Come on guys…that is not right. We need to play fair and square.
Ruth: Go ahead, Bobby…you play fair…I’m going to win.
Bobby: Do you think that is what God would want us to do?
Ruth: I think that God would want us to do our best. And I can do my best when
I have some help from the internet.
Danny: That makes sense
Sissy: Boy, I sure do want to win.
Bobby: Well, it is up to you. But I’m going to follow the rules because I know
that is what God would want me to do.
Lesson:
Acts: 21:1-6 Warning #1:
Paul is on merchants ships that stop in many places to unload their cargo.
Paul was on a 400 mile journey.
√ What did Paul do when they got to Tyre? (He found disciples that were
following Jesus.)
√ Why did Paul find disciples? (Paul would always look up the believers
to encourage them and to build them up in their faith.) Paul never took
a vacation from serving the Lord.
√ What did the disciples tell him? (they told him not to go to Jerusalem.)
√ Why did they tell him not to go to Jerusalem? (because they knew that
danger awaited Paul there.)
√ Did Paul listen to them? (no)
Acts 21:8-12: Warning #2:
Paul and his companions came to Caesarea, the port city of Jerusalem.
They stayed with Phillip. It says that Phillip was one of the original 7.
√ What original 7 was Phillip a part of? (Acts 6:5; when the leaders
picked 7 faithful men to be deacons and to help run the church. Phillip
was one of those picked.)
Phillip was also the one who God sent to the Ethiopian eunuch to tell him
about Jesus Acts 8:26)
√ Who came to visit at Phillip’s house? (Agabus)
√ What is a prophet? (someone who spoke for God)
√ What did Agabus tell Paul?
a. took Paul’s belt and bound his hands and feet
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b. told Paul that this is what is going to happen to him in
Jerusalem
c. Paul will be given into the hands of the Gentiles. (That means
that he will be put in a Gentile prison.)
d. √ Did Agabus tell Paul that he was not to go? (no) He just
told him what was going to happen.
√ What did Agabus and the people around Paul beg him not to do? (Not
to go to Jerusalem.)
Acts 21:13-14; “The Answer!”
Paul told them to quit weeping and breaking his heart.
√ How were they breaking his heart? (by begging him not to go)
√ What did Paul tell them?
a. He was ready to be bound (in prison)
b. He was ready for death
c. He was ready to do anything for Jesus
√ What did the people finally say? (the will of the Lord be done.)
√ Do you think that the people were trying to persuade Paul out of the
Lord’s will or because they did not want to loose him?
Acts 21:15-30: “On To Jerusalem!”
√ Acts 21:15, where did they go? (to Jerusalem)
√ Who greeted them at Jerusalem? (the brethren or Apostle leaders)
√ What does Paul tell James and the other leaders?
- told in detail what God had been doing for the Gentiles
√ How did James and the elders react?
- with joy
- told Paul that the wrong message is still being spread among
the Jewish believers (that Paul has told all of the Jewish
believers to ignore the teachings of Moses.)
√ What did they tell Paul to do?
- go to the temple with four other men
- they were purified and gave an offering
Conclusion:
√ Why did everyone try to tell Paul not to go to Jerusalem?
1. They were afraid for him
2. They did not want to loose him
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3. They thought that they knew God will for him (because surely God
would not want Paul to suffer.)
√ Can other Christians try to persuade us the wrong way?
Let’s take a look at Jesus:
Matthew 17:21-23; in these verses Jesus tells His disciples that He
must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things and be killed and be
raised from the dead on the third day. Peter responded that this
should never happen to Jesus.
√ How did Jesus respond to Peter?
“Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not
mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
Peter did not want to hear that Jesus would have to die.
He wanted to save Jesus from that kind of torture.
But Jesus knew that He came to save us. The cross was always
Jesus’ mission for coming to earth. Peter’s feelings were trying to
get in the way of Jesus doing what He was supposed to do.
Let’s take a look at Paul:
Galatians 1:10; “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to
please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of
Christ.”
Paul was not here to please men. If we try to please men, many times we
will not please God. We have to follow God not matter what.
Eric Liddell was born in 1902 to Scottish missionaries to China. He grew up in boarding
schools in England where he became known for running very fast. In 1924 Liddell was
set to go the Paris Olympics and run the 100 meters race, his best event. Eric found out
months before he left for Paris that the 100 meter race was to be held on Sunday. Eric
believed firmly that Sunday was a day of rest. Even though that was his best event and
best chance for gold, he withdrew from the race. Everyone was mad at him and tried to
persuade him from not racing. Eric did not listen and instead started training for longer
races. He was not very strong in the longer races but he trained any way. When the day
of the Olympic 400 meters race came, Liddell went to the starting blocks, where an
American Olympic Team masseur slipped a piece of paper into his hand with a quotation
from 1 Samuel 2:30: "Those who honor me I will honor." Eric ran the entire 400 yards
like a sprint, he held on to win. He broke the existing Olympic and world records with a
time of 47.6 seconds. His performance in Paris stood as the Olympic record for 12 years.
The movie Chariots of Fire told his story.
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Eric went on to return to China as a missionary. On one occasion he was asked if he ever
regretted his decision to leave behind the fame and glory of athletics. Liddell responded,
"It's natural for a chap to think over all that sometimes, but I'm glad I'm at the work I'm
engaged in now. A fellow's life counts for far more at this than the other.”
Following God’s will
√ How do we know God’s will?
1. God will teach us: Psalm 143:10, “Teach me to do Your will, for you are my
God, Your Sprit is good, lead me in the land of the uprightness.
2. Follow Jesus: Jesus gave us the perfect example of someone who followed
what God’s will was for Him. “..I do not seek My own will but he will of the
Father who sent Me.” John 5:30b
3. Seek to live for God. In every way we need to give our lives to God daily.
We need His help to guide us and to live holy lives through the Holy Spirit.
Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us to present our bodies as a sacrifice to God. That
means in everything we do we do for Jesus…a living sacrifice. And then it
continues by saying, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
We will know God’s will when we listen to God and to His Word and allow
them to change us from the inside out. The world says that we are to be
successful and rich and popular. God says very simply just follow Me!
Are you ready?
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Eric Liddell
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