Paul Preaches About God the Creator at Mars Hill in Athens

Paul preached about God the creator at Mars Hill.

This is an older post, but recently I have purchased these globes. I have one blown up and let the students gently toss it to each other and name something God created. They get to take one home, but are not allowed to blow theirs up until they leave the building.

Review: Last week Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown in prison! What did they do while they were there? They prayed and sang songs to Jesus. There was an earthquake and the prison doors were opened and the chains all fell off the prisoners. The jailor was so scared that everyone had left, he was going to kill himself, but Paul shouted at him to come and see that everyone was still there.

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Paul talked to him about Jesus and the jailor and his whole family were baptized. The next day, when the judges went to the jailor's house and told Paul and Silas they could leave, Paul said "No! We are Roman citizens and were publicly beaten then thrown in prison without a trial. We are not leaving in secret. Tell them to come to us to apologize in person." The officers were scared when they heard that Paul and Silas were Romans, and they went and apologized and asked them to leave the city. Paul and Silas left the prison and went back to Lydia’s house. They stayed there for many days with the other Christians.

 

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Lesson: Scripture is Acts 17:14-34. Paul and Silas left Philippi and went about preaching and baptizing people. We don't know where Timothy is. Remember, Luke stayed in Philippi. The wording in Acts changed from Luke saying 'we' to 'them'.

There were a lot of people listening to Paul preach. There were many women who believed. There was also a lot of people getting in an uproar about the way people were changing when they heard what Paul had to say in Thessalonica. They taught in Berea, and Timothy and Silas stayed in Berea and the Christians sent Paul to Athens. But Paul sent for Silas and Timothy to join him "as fast as they could".

While Paul waited for them, he walked the streets of Athens, he saw that there were idols in the city and he was irritated. What does God say about idols? NO! Wherever Paul turned, he would have seen statues, temples, and shrines. It is written in history that there were about 30,000 idols in public places, plus what people had in their homes. An ancient proverb declared that there were more idols in Athens than men, and wherever Paul looked, on pedestals, in temples and on street corners, were idol statues.  

Paul must have been horrified as he saw all those idols, and he was so annoyed when he saw the city full of them! (Acts 17:16) Paul, a devout Jew, had been taught from childhood the ten commandments and he knew God said not to have other idols, and not to make anything to be an idol. (Exodus 20:3-4)

He went to the synagogue and talked to the people. He went to the marketplace every day and talked to people about Jesus.

Some men saw him talking to the people and asked who Paul was, and they said he is speaking  different from what they had ever heard and they wanted to know what it meant. These men spent a lot of their time gossiping and wanted to know what Paul was talking about.

This is Mars Hill today. Also known as the Areopagus.

Photos of Bible lands are free here.

(Used with permission by David Padfield) 

They took Paul to Mar's Hill, where the supreme court of Athens often met. The hill is in the middle of the city, so it was easy for people to see what was happening there.

  

Paul stood at the top and told them “Men of Athens, I think you are very religious because as I was passing through and looking at all your idols, I even found one that said ‘To The Unknown God.” 

 

“I am going to tell you about the One that you are worshipping that you do not know.” Paul told them about how God created the world and that He doesn’t like anyone to worship stone or gold or silver. He said that God had overlooked past times, because the people didn’t know better, but now He expects people to repent. God will judge everyone someday.  

Paul talked about Jesus rising from the dead. Some of the people made fun of Paul and other people said that “We will listen to Paul again about this.” 

So, not everyone will want to hear about Jesus when you tell them or invite them to worship with you. Some will make fun of you, but then others will want to hear more and we need to know the Bible so you can answer their questions.

 

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For today's project, I usually use a diecut machine to cut the crosses, but there is a pattern I made so you can cut the crosses by hand. (I use a 1 1/2" square punch for the inside squares.) You will need 10 1 1/2" squares in different colors. I cut 4 of those different colors of squares in half. I have the pieces the kids need in baggies, so everyone gets the same colors, etc. I can have them pick up a bag and a cross when they come in.

They can be laid out in any order the kids like them. You can write anything in the
squares. I went with thankful to God for His blessings. Paul was extremely thankful for being able to teach about Jesus. He was thankful for his friends. He was thankful for everything, even the things he suffered for Jesus. Again, I have done this project for years, and it is all over Pinterest, so it is not something new. I have done it so long, I do not know where the original idea came from.

You can print the cross pattern here. The first one has the directions for the squares and is meant to print one, and use it to lay on top of cardstock or construction paper and cut out. I usually cut several at a time this way.

Your other choice does not have the directions for the squares. You can print onto cardstock or construction paper and let the kids cut it out. Print this one here.

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You can find all the Acts worksheets here.

 

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Click here to download the pictures to color.

(These are the same as the visuals but are black & white.)

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Bible Verse:  Acts 17:24

Passport: Mars Hill in Athens

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.

Used by permission.