Saul becomes Paul

After Jesus returned to heaven, his followers preached His message of salvation. Saul hated the message they preached, but God changed his heart. The story of his conversion is found in Acts 9.

Key Points:

• God can change people.
• God forgives those who do wrong.
• We should forgive others who wrong us.

Lesson Guide – Saul becomes Paul

Talk about opposites. When Saul’s heart changed, he became the opposite of what he was. He hated Christians, but after he was saved, he loved them. He changed from following darkness to following the Light of the World.

Talk about change. Set out a glass of water. Take a piece of ice from the freezer and set a kettle on to boil. Point out the way that heat and cold change the water into different forms. Discuss other things that change when heat or cold is applied. 

You may choose to do an experiment by placing various objects on a piece of foil on a pan (use candies, a small chocolate, a cookie, etc.) Place the items in the oven. Remove the foil from the pan and set on the table until cool to the touch. Give the child a utensil and allow them to poke at the objects. Talk about how the oven changed them. Do the same experiment with duplicate objects and put them in the freezer. Discuss the different ways that cold and heat changed the objects, e.g. a gummy candy will become very hard in the freezer and melt in the oven.

Jesus washes us free from our sins and forgives the wrongs that we have done when we repent. In the same way, we should forgive others. Ananias forgave Saul and healed him even though he knew that Saul had hurt other believers. If we repent, we will be sorry and change our actions.

Before Saul’s conversion, he thought he was doing the right thing. God opened his eyes both spiritually (so he repented) and physically (when Ananias healed his eyes.)

God has given us the Bible and Holy Spirit to open our eyes, so we can tell right from wrong. Set out some blocks, balls, or other objects in various colours. Explain that you are going to play a sorting game. The goal is to divide the blocks into piles of the same colors. Mix the blocks up. Ask the child if they think they can sort the blocks. Ask them to explain how they will be able to do so. Now, place a blindfold over the child’s eyes. Tell them that they need to sort the blocks with their other senses. Allow them to try to sort the blocks. Remove the blindfold and talk about how without their eyes, they couldn’t discern differences in colors. (You may also choose another sense if desired. Such as identifying scents with their nose plugged or music with their ears plugged.) 

We need to pray and read the Bible so God can use it to open our spiritual eyes and we can see right from wrong.

Reflect on a life cycle of a butterfly or frog. Speak about how God transformed Saul’s life and wants to transform our lives.

Video Bible story for children – Saul becomes Paul

Free Printable Bible Story – Saul becomes Paul

Bible Time video

Games and activities

Flashlight tag

Create a dimly lit environment. Either in dark room or wait for the evening. Make sure the space is safe and there is nothing dangerous for the children to hurt themselves on. Select one person to be ‘it’. Give them a torch (Flashlight). ‘It’ closes their eyes and counts to a number while the other players hide. When they are finished counting, they must search for the other players and tag them by shining the torch on them.

Recognize the voice

To prepare for this activity, use your phone to record some people your child knows well saying a simple sentence. For example. “Hello. Do you know who I am?” Alternatively, you could find some videos of people from your child’s favorite cartoons.

One by one, play a voice to your child. They must then guess who’s voice it is. If they find it too difficult, you can give a clue and play the voice again. Share how Saul heard a voice from Heaven and asked who it was. Remind them it was Jesus.

Blindfolded walk with a Guide

Place a blindfold on your child. Have them hold onto your arm. Explain that you will be their guide. Take them on a short walk around the room, house or garden. Ask them where they think they are?

Speak about how Saul was left blind after seeing the bright light and needed others to help him.

Worksheets

Free Bible Coloring Pages – Saul becomes Paul

Craft – Light on Damascus road

What you need:

• Template pages
• A plastic zip bag or pouch.
• Crayons
• Markers
• Scissors

What to do:

1. Use a marker to trace the template page onto a plastic zip bag or pouch. Depending on your kids’ ages, you may allow them to help and / or color the image with markers.
2. Place a piece of black paper inside the pouch. If you do not have black paper, color blank paper with a black crayon.
3. Cut out and color the light beam. Slide around inside the plastic pouch, to reveal the image and verse.

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Translations