Paul Goes Before Felix

We are coming the final (and interesting) lessons for the book of Acts and studying Paul. I have a simple Accordion for the kids to cut and fill in the blanks to review some of the people we have been studying. It is a great conversation starter and for remembering our study.

Agabus warned Paul not to go to Jerusalem. When he did, Paul was beaten by the crowd and the chief Captain, Lysias, put him under protection.

When Paul’s nephew heard that 40 of the Jewish men plotted to kill him, he went to the prison to tell Paul. When Paul’s nephew informed Lysias of the plot, Lysias told 2 centurions to gather 200 soldiers, 200 spearmen, 70 horsemen and a beast for Paul, probably a donkey, to ride. They left Jerusalem at about 9 P.M. and started to Caesarea which was a 60-mile trip. About halfway to Caesarea, the soldiers returned to Jerusalem and the horsemen continued with Paul. The soldiers thought Paul was far enough away from the angry Jews. Today's scripture is Acts 23:23-35; 24:1-27.

When they arrived at Caesarea, the soldiers turned Paul over to Felix. He was the governor. They also gave Felix a letter from Lysias, explaining that Paul would have been killed and Lysias didn’t think Paul was worthy of death since he didn’t break any Jewish religious laws.

Felix was dishonest and a lot of people detested him. He was cruel and was an unjust Roman ruler.

After five days, the religious leaders came from Jerusalem. They brought a lawyer named Tertullus. He started his speech by saying things that made Felix feel good. He said that Paul had caused riots and violence.

Paul said that what really happened was that he had gone to Jerusalem 12 days ago to worship. He didn’t preach in the temple or synagogue or anyplace in the city. “I did what God wanted me to do and was quietly worshipping God.”

Felix knew Paul didn’t do anything worth punishing, but thought, maybe, he could use this to his advantage. So he didn’t release Paul. Felix turned Paul over to a centurion. Paul was still a prisoner, but Felix let Paul’s friends visit him. Paul was given some freedom, but the Roman custom was that food and personal needs were supplied from friends.

Felix met with Paul and talked to him about God and sin, but Felix didn’t want to change how he lived, so he brushed aside what Paul told him. He thought he could get money from Paul’s followers, so he didn’t release him. He knew Paul was innocent, but wanted to keep the Jews happy, so he kept Paul in prison.

After Paul was there for two years, Felix was sent to Rome and Festus took over.

Since this is a shorter lesson, I like to spend some time reviewing some of the people that we have discussed in our study of the book of Acts. This is an easier version of the Lift-the-Flap you can see here. It is black & white and a simple question and answer worksheet, but fun for the kids because they get to cut and glue and fold! Click here to download it.

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You can find all the Acts worksheets here.

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Bible Verse: Acts 24:23

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

Used by permission.

Passport: Caesarea of Judea 

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This file contains all visuals for Acts 24-27. All are not shown.

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

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