Paul - Week 9
“God’s heroes have perseverance!”
Wow... I can’t believe it’s already week 9 of our SuperHero Training Camp! Which hero has been your favorite so far?
This week we’re learning about a hero you’ve probably heard about before... Paul! Do you remember him? He started out as Saul and he was actually one of the people who was persecuting (that means being really mean to, punishing, or hurting) the early Christians. Then, through a miraculous moment that you’ll see in this week’s video, he met Jesus and became Paul the apostle! We’re focusing this week on Paul’s perseverance because God’s heroes have perseverance!
Perseverance means you keep on doing something, even when it’s hard. Paul had many, many trials in his life: shipwrecks, snake bites, jail time and more, but no matter what happened, he just kept on going to do God’s work. We’ll have hard times in our lives too, but we can keep going with the strength of Jesus to help us because God’s heroes have perseverance!
Memory Verse for the Summer - Hebrews 12:1 NIRV
A huge cloud of witnesses is all around us. So let us throw off everything that stands in our way. Let us throw off any sin that holds on to us so tightly. And let us keep on running the race marked out for us.
Read 2 Corinthians 11:16-33.
Response Activity
Paul had some very hard times in his life. He had times where he probably wanted to quit and give up. Have you ever had a time like that? Think about something in your life right now that you need to have perseverance in.
Say this to God:
● God, please give me the strength to persevere in this difficult situation.
● God, show me the next step you want me to take.
Memory Verse Activity
Hot or Cold
Write the words of the memory verse for older kids, or phrases of the memory verse for younger kids, on index cards. Hide the index cards and help your child find them by playing “Hot or Cold.” The closer they get to a card, you say warmer, and as they get further away you say cooler. Once they’ve found all the cards, have them put them in correct verse order. Hint: make sure you remember how many cards there are!
Game
1 - Lead the Blind
Make a maze in your house, or a path outside in your yard. Lead someone through the maze who has their eyes closed or blind folded. This teaches perseverance through trying something difficult. Paul was also blinded during his conversion, and had to be led into Damascus!
2 - Perseverance Race
Make a race involving 3 different activities that challenge your perseverance. Those might include an egg in spoon race, ring toss, beanbag toss, crab walk, etc.
Service Project
1 - Letters of Love
During this Corona Virus time, many elderly people in nursing homes haven’t been able to have visitors and have had to persevere through a difficult time. Write them a letter of encouragement and hope! (Just like Paul wrote to the Corinthian church in the scripture you read this week!)
2 - Painted Rocks
Help someone else persevere through a difficult time by painting rocks with messages of hope and joy! Leave these happy rocks in different places around the community to bring a smile to someone’s face.
Come back next week for the final revealing of our last superhero of the summer!!!