Meet Paul | Kid's Club

Paul. So part of God's story is about a man named Paul and it begins like this. Paul was born in a city called Tarsus. Back then, being born in Tarsus was about as cool as being born in an amusement park. So Paul thought he was cooler than other people, especially the ones who were following Jesus. Paul turned into a real bully. He found ways to get people who were following Jesus thrown in jail, beat up, and even killed. One day Jesus yelled from the sky, "Paul, Paul, why are you acting this way?" Then Jesus shined a really bright light brighter than the sun right into Paul's eyes. Paul couldn't see anything for three days. Kids never looked straight at the sun. Remember what happened to Paul. After Paul could see again, he decided to listen to God. And not just listen. Paul decided to spend his whole life telling people about God and God's son Jesus. Paul knew if he was going to tell people about God, he better get to know God. Paul found different ways to get to know God. Sometimes he fasted, which is when you skip a meal or many meals, and spend time praying to God instead. Other times, he snuck off alone so he could sit and listen to God. Paul said getting to know God was like training to run a big race. Sometimes training for a race takes work, especially if you want to win. Just like he could sometimes take hard work to fast or sit quietly and listen to God. But for Paul, knowing God was way better than winning first place, even if the prize was a million billion dollars. Once Paul knew God, he was so excited that he wanted to tell everyone, even people he didn't know. Paul became a missionary, a missionary as a person who goes to new places and tells people about Jesus.

And even while he was doing this, Paul was writing lots and lots of letters telling other people about Jesus. Now, sometimes, Paul found out that not everybody wanted to hear about God. But he told them about God anyway, just to make sure everybody had a chance to hear. Have you ever tried talking to somebody when they weren't listening to you? The people started getting really mad at Paul when he taught. If he rocks at him, beat him up, put him in jail, and even tried to get rid of him completely. Guess what Paul did? He said he'd be happy to go to jail, get beat up, and even die if it means more people know about Jesus. Well, God was with Paul when he was getting beat up and put in jail. One night, God even sent an earthquake to open the doors of the jail so Paul could be free. But instead of escaping, Paul stayed to tell the prison guard about Jesus. Later on, Paul was sent to a bigger city with a bigger jail. To get there, he had to take a boat. During hurricane season, one of the storms hit Paul's boat and it got a shipwreck. Sorry. So he had to swim all the way to a nearby island, pictures swimming in the North Pole with penguins. That's how cold Paul was, but as soon as he saw that there were people living on the island, what do you think he did? Yep. He taught them about Jesus. Paul never stopped telling people about Jesus and how Jesus loves everyone and wants to help them stop doing wrong things and teach them how to know him. He got put in jail at least four times, with shipwreck three times, and was even bitten by a poisonous snake. Paul didn't care what happened. He was so happy knowing God that he just wanted everybody else to know God too.

And that's the story of Paul. So in case you missed it, here's the quick version. Paul was a bully who didn't follow God. God blinded him for three days. Then Paul believed in God and he spent time getting to know God. He decided to tell everyone about Jesus. He was willing to have rocks thrown at him, go to jail, get beat up, get shipwrecked, or even die as long as he could tell people about God. And that's a part of God's story. [music] [BLANK_AUDIO]