Paul Teaches in Athens

Acts 17:16-34


Our true story comes from a part of the Bible called Acts, which is short for “the Acts of the Apostles.” An apostle is someone who is sent to teach others about Jesus.

Our story is about a man named Paul. Paul believed in Jesus. He told everyone, “Jesus is alive! And He wants to be your friend forever!”


One day, Paul went to a city called Athens. The people in Athens worshiped statues made of stone instead of believing in Jesus.


Paul looked around at all of the stone statues, and he told the people, “Hey, you have a lot of statues, but you’re MISSING something. You’re not worshiping the one true God. The God who made everything!”


The people wanted Paul to tell them more, so he did! He told them how God made the whole world and everything in it. Paul told them how God made the sky, water, sun, moon, stars, trees, flowers, birds, fish, animals—God made all of it!


The people were AMAZED and wanted Paul to tell them more. So, he did! Next, Paul told them how God made people. 


He told them God made all people to know him. God made people. Boys and girls, short and tall, God made us all!


The people in Athens heard this and still wanted Paul to tell them more. So, he did! Next, Paul told the people about Jesus. He told them that Jesus is God’s son, that Jesus is alive, and He wants to be their friend forever.


When Paul finished talking, some of the people believed in Jesus! It was amazing! And the good news is that EVERYONE can believe in Jesus. That means you can believe in Jesus, too!



Bible Paraphrase: These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. — John 20:31, NLV

Text Truth: I can believe in Jesus.



Family Devotional

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. —Acts 17:22-23

Our Bible story was about a man named Paul. Paul went to a city called Athens so he could teach the people about God and His Son, Jesus. He taught them that God made the whole world and everything in it, including people. He taught them that God loves people so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to be their friend forever. And guess what? A lot of the people believed in Jesus! 

Paul made sure to write down some of his story so you and I can believe in Jesus, too. All of the stories in the Bible were written so that you can believe in Jesus.

These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. — John 20:31, NLV

God made the whole world and everything in it, including you and me. That’s a lot of amazing things! It may take some thinking, but with your family, make a list of your favorite things that God made.

Pray with your family. Allow any family members to pray if they wish. In your own words, acknowledge to God that there is no one else like Him. For example, only He could make the whole world and everything in it. Only He could make people. Only He could make all of space and the stars, sun, moon, and planets. Thank God for some of your favorite things, including (read through your family's list). Most of all, thank God for loving you so much that He gave you Jesus. Thank God for His love and acknowledge to God your love for him.

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Story illustrations are the copyright of Sweet Publishing and licensed by FreeBibleimages (http://freebibleimages.org) for free download under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike 3.0 unported licence.
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