Week 10: Back to Jerusalem

Jerusalem sits high above the surrounding territory with several hills within the walls of the city including Mt. Zion and the Temple Mount. Jerusalem is less than 11 acres, built on terraces. It was conquered and invaded by various invading armies throughout the years and was already a walled city when David captured it and made it his capital. It was the most important of Solomon's royal cities because the temple of God was there. The city grew under King Herod and he rebuilt the temple, a palace, an ampitheatre ,theatre and a fort. Jerusalem is also known as the City of God, Zion, and the Holy City.

We used pictures to help the children remember the story of Paul's journey back to Jerusalem. We reminded the kids that he spent some time traveling throughout the region where he had spent the last few years encouraging the churches and preaching to the Christians. He left the area of Asia Minor, which is now known as Turkey, and headed toward Jerusalem.

Paul sailed down the coast of Turkey and docked in Tyre. The Christians here begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem. There were people in Jerusalem who were not happy that Paul had been preaching the gospel and converting many people to Christ.

Paul explained how he wanted to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost so he could join in the celebration of the beginning of the church in Jerusalem.

In Caesarea, a believer named Agabus predicted Paul's fate. He demonstrated it by taking Paul's belt from him and binding Paul's hands with his belt. He showed that Paul would be bound in chains and be taken prisoner when he reached Jerusalem. The believers in Caesarea loved Paul and they begged him not to go to Jerusalem. He was determined so they had several people that went with him on his journey.

Church leaders in Jerusalem became concerned that Paul was not honoring the Law of Moses because of some lies that were being told about him. They said that Paul had let some Gentiles into the Temple, which was against the Jewish laws. Paul defended himself and spoke to the Jews about his Jewish heritage. When he began to discuss his conversion and the mission God had given him to take the gospel to the Gentiles, a riot broke out.

The Roman soldiers were quick to break up the riot. They put Paul in chains and took him to prison. The commander of the Roman army ordered for Paul to be whipped. When Paul revealed that he was not just a Jew, but also a Roman citizen, the Roman soldiers became afraid. Roman citizens had certain rights and could not be beaten and punished without a fair trial. Paul ended his journey to Jerusalem just as it had been predicted. He was beaten and imprisoned for preaching the gospel of Christ.

I can see that the kids are tiring of the memory work. Some of the children mastered parts of last month's memory verse! Congratulations to Ashley Hartley!

This month's verse relates to the section of Paul's journey that will include his journey to Rome for his trial before Caesar. I am going to shorten the memory work so the kids should be able to get these verses easily...

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!... I can do everything through him who gives me strength" Philippians 4:4,13