Intermediate Level, Block 10—Spread and Propagation
Week 96
Saul’s Conversion—Confirmed through Ananias
Point to Emphasize: We can be those who consider one another more excellent than ourselves.
Reading Reference: Acts 9:1-19, notes 61, 81, 111; Life-study of Acts, msg. 25
Memory Verse: …But in lowliness of mind considering one another more excellent than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3b)
Story Sample
We have been talking about how the good news about Jesus was spreading. Many were believing this good news. And they found out that they needed each other. They needed to gather together and to help one another. Let me tell you about Saul and Ananias from the book of Acts.
Now, before Saul heard the good news about Jesus, he was one who was famous for treating the disciples very cruelly. As a Jew, he had been raised to know the Jewish law and to follow it. He was intelligent and very capable. He thought he was doing what was right for God by persecuting Jesus’ disciples.
One day, as he was traveling to Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him, and he fell to the ground. It was here that he heard the good news. The men who were with him had to take him to the city, because he could not see. For three days he wasn’t able to see. What would he do?
In that city, there was a certain disciple named Ananias. He wasn’t well known. In fact, this is the only time he was mentioned in the Bible. God sent him to Saul, and Ananias did as God told him, even though he was afraid, because he had heard of what Saul had been doing to the disciples in Jerusalem. When Ananias entered into the house where Saul was, he laid his hands on Saul and said, “The Lord has sent me…so that you may receive your sight” (Acts 9:17), and Saul’s sight came back! God had used this seemingly unimportant man to show Saul a very important lesson—that all followers of Jesus are necessary.
When I was a teenager, I had done something VERY disrespectful to my dad. I knew I was wrong, so I had shut myself in the bathroom and I was crying about it. I felt just terrible! While I was there, my younger sister came in to see what was wrong. I thought, “What could she do to help?” I was older and I should know more than she. Even, I was supposed to be the one who should be taking care of her, not the other way around. But do you know that she had a verse for me? It was a very simple verse, but it was just what I needed! I felt so much better! We really do need one another! [Storyteller, tell your own story about help that came from another believer.]
This was just what Saul needed that day he received his sight. He didn’t only need to get his sight back and be healed. He needed to know that every follower of Jesus is important to God. Even though Saul would become known as Paul, one who was so well known in the New Testament, he still needed to receive something very important from this simple disciple. After this, Saul began to join himself with the other disciples.
Let’s all consider this during the week. Maybe you think you might be better or smarter or stronger than someone else, maybe someone younger than you. We all do this sometimes. Let’s look at our friends in a new way and see that we all need each other and can help each other.