Paul and the Enraged Crowd - The Book of Acts

Join Julia Jeffress Sadler as she takes us on an incredible adventure in Episode 213.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
On the next day, desiring to know the truth about
why he was accused by the Jews, he freed him
from the bonds and commanded the chief priests and all
the councils to come together and brought Paul down and
set him before them Acts twenty two thirty. Dear God,

(00:20):
we want to be faithful to you and obey you,
like Paul, even in the hardest times. Thank you for
his example of keeping his eyes focused on you no
matter what else was going on around him. Help us
to follow you that way. Please use us as you
use Paul to point many people to Jesus. In your name,

(00:43):
we pray Amen.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Thank you for praying with us today. The Kid's Bible
in a Year podcast is sponsored by Little Passports, delivering
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(01:10):
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Speaker 3 (01:21):
Paul and the enraged crowd. In our last story, Paul
encouraged and said goodbye to the elders in Ephesus and
made his way to Jerusalem, even though it was dangerous,
because he said that he was ready to die for
the Lord. In this story, Paul will be in Jerusalem
and be arrested in the temple and enrage the crowd

(01:42):
by his speech as inspired by acts.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Hi, everyone, it's Julie here, Welcome back to the Kids
Bible in the Year podcast. Today Paul is handed over
to Roman custody and more beatingsles ahead of him. But
do you think that's going to stop him? Let's dive men.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
Once Paul and the other disciples arrived in Jerusalem, the
fellow Christians welcomed him warmly. The following day, Paul went
to see the elders. Paul described in great details what
God had done through his ministry to the non Jews,
who were also called the gentiles. All the elders were
amazed and praised God. But then they shared a concern

(02:31):
with Paul. They said to him, thousands of Jews believe
in Jesus. Now, however, there are rumors saying that you,
Paul told some Jews not to follow the law anymore.
What shall we do, Paul, listened and the next day
resolved the issue. Also, he took four men and purified
all of them along with himself. One day, Paul was

(02:53):
in the temple. Some Jews saw him and became angry.
The Jews agitated the crowd and captured Paul. Israelites, this
is the man who teaches others to go against us,
our law and the temple. Plus, he has defiled this
place by bringing in outsiders. The Jews wrongly believed Paul

(03:13):
did this because they had seen him in the temple
with an Ephesian From all directions, people came to persecute Paul.
They dragged him from the temple and tried to murder him.
The commander of the Roman troops heard what was happening
and ran down to the crowd with some other Roman authorities.
The crowd got frightened for a moment and stopped beating

(03:34):
Paul when they saw the Romans. Crowd watched as the
Romans arrested Paul. The Romans asked Paul to tell the truth.
That the crowd began to roar. The Romans took Paul
into a building to get answers. The crowd was furious
and the violence was life threatening. They continued to threaten
Paul even while the Romans carried him away. Before Paul

(03:56):
was taken into the building, he began to talk to
the commander, as the commander, I am a Jew from Tarsus.
Allow me to say something to the Jewish crowd. Their
commander accepted Paul's request. Paul spoke to the Jews in
their language and proclaimed, I am a Jew from Tarsus.
I grew up in Jerusalem. I was trained in the

(04:17):
Jewish law and had much love, energy, and enthusiasm for God,
just like you all. I even killed Christians and put
plenty in prison. One day, I was going to Damascus
to punish more Christians when a brilliant light from heaven
emblazed my surroundings. From the light, a voice asked, why
do you persecute me? I asked who the voice was.

(04:40):
The voice replied, I am Jesus of Nazareth. The people
traveling with me saw the light but did not hear
the voice. Afterwards, I realized I was blind. Fortunately, Jesus
had informed me to travel to Damascus like I originally planned.
My fellow travelers led me to Damascus. Jesus instructed me

(05:01):
to see a Christian man who would heal me. This
man restored my sight, Paul continued. The Christian man told
me that God had chosen me to preach to all
men about Jesus Christ. Then the man told me to
call on the name of Jesus Christ and to be baptized.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
I obeyed.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
Then Paul said something that infuriated the crowd. Paul said,
after that encounter, I was praying at the temple in Jerusalem.
I fell into a trance, and God told me to
leave Jerusalem for now because he wanted me to preach
to the non Jews, also known as the Gentiles. The
crowd stopped listening and began to shout. The commander of

(05:42):
the Romans noticed the danger and took Paul into the building.
The Romans were going to beat Paul with a whip.
Before they could, Paul told them that he was a
Roman citizen. They realized they could not beat him unless
he was found guilty in a Roman trial. Instead, the
commander released Paul that next day. Then the Romans took

(06:02):
Paul to the highest Jewish authorities to find out why
the Jews wanted to kill Paul.

Speaker 1 (06:15):
Who Another close call for Paul I guess God is
not quite finished with him yet. As today's story opens,
Paul arrives in Jerusalem and is greeted by friends who
are really excited to hear all that God was doing
through his ministry, But they needed to warn Paul. There

(06:37):
are Jews, even Christian Jews, who were super angry, and
the rumor was that Paul was telling people that Jews
no longer have to follow the Law of Moses, and
then that was making them really angry. Shortly after, Paul
is dragged out of the temple among a very angry

(07:00):
crowd who wanted him dead. The truth is that Paul
was fine with Jews who still wanted to follow the
Law of Moses. He even followed these laws when he
returned to Jerusalem in hopes that the Jews would accept
his message. He just didn't want anyone to think that
obeying those laws was what made you write with God.

(07:25):
Jesus's death and resurrection are what makes us rite with
God when we accept them for ourselves, nothing more and
nothing less. Well, things were getting so awful that the
Romans swooped in to take over. They didn't get it.
What had Paul done to make these Jews so furious

(07:46):
they arrested Paul, hoping that would calm everyone down. You
would think by now, with a crowd this angry threatening
to murder him, Paul might back off a little. Surely
he was tired, afraid for his life, and sick of
all the drama. Well think again, we know Paul better

(08:06):
than that by now, don't we. Instead of being taken
away quietly, Paul asked the Roman officer if he could
talk to this angry crowd of Jews. I guess so,
the Romans might have thought. So, here stands Paul. He's
just been beaten, and both of his arms are chained

(08:27):
to Roman soldiers, and what's the only thing on his mind?
Preaching the gospel? Paul spoke to these Jews in their
own language. This was smart of him because it showed
the people that he was one of them. He grew
up in the same streets, went to the same temple,

(08:48):
learned to follow all the laws of Moses from childhood,
just as they had not to mention, he reminded them
that he was the one who, once arrests, did and
killed Christians on the daily. Although it didn't seem to
make much difference. They were just too mad. Paul, once again,

(09:11):
as he had done so faithfully many many times before,
shared his story. He told them what happened on that
road to Damascus that changed his life forever. He told
them about God opening his arms to the Gentiles. But
no matter what he said, the shouting just got louder.

(09:35):
Let's stop here for a minute. Does Paul's life in
this moment remind you of anyone else's. Jesus was traveling
around sharing his message of love and hope with others,
healing and preaching the truth, just like Paul. Jesus came
back to Jerusalem knowing that the Jews there wanted to

(09:56):
arrest and kill him just like Paul. Jesus faced trials,
beatings in a very angry crowd who wanted him dead,
just like Paul. And most importantly, Jesus kept his eyes
focused on one thing and one thing, only, being obedient
to his Father, even if it meant he had to

(10:19):
suffer and die, just like Paul. It was like Paul
wanted to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, and that's
just what he did. You see, Paul knew something every
Christian needs to know, that we are called to live
a life, just like Jesus. We may not be killed

(10:41):
for being a Christian, but we might suffer in other ways.
When we can in any way understand the life of
Jesus from something we are going through. The Bible says
that we are blessed. We are with him in that suffering,
and it's so special to him.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
All right.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
So Paul finds a way to escape another beating from
the Romans due to the fact that he was a
Roman citizen and would have to go to trial first.
It was very unusual back then for a Jew to
also be a Roman citizen. Perhaps that's why God chose
to use Paul for his purposes. Paul's background helped him

(11:26):
to do the assignment God gave him, just like your
background gives you everything you need to follow God to
Paul would now be in Roman custody. He would face
lots of scary moments and frustrating situations, but in every
step he would keep sharing his story and Jesus would

(11:48):
be right beside him. More about that next time. Thanks
for joining me today. Let's remember the Bible is the
best story ever told. It's God's story to you, and
it's all true. Had to blast with our podcast, share
the fun with a loved one and help us reach

(12:09):
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(12:34):
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(12:57):
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