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© 2024, Life Connection
International, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
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Who are you? Are you an athlete, student, or musician? No, that is just a description of what you may do. You are who you are because of whose you are, not because of what you do. Who do you belong to? No matter how you behave, if you belong to Jesus, you are a saint. If you belong to the world, you are a sinner.
The truth is, a child of God has great power. Jesus is our source of power. When we live like children of God, people see His light and confidence in us. This is the way we get to participate with God in bringing the good news to people everywhere. He made us holy, and we can trust His holiness and glory to shine through us. It's an impossible life to live on our own.
Now, use your imagination, as we journey back through time to look at the Life Connection Story "Paul Part 3."
(Story adapted from the New Testament books written by the Apostle Paul, the Gospels, and specifically Acts 16:16 to 17:34.)
My name is Paul. I helped take the good news about Jesus to Europe. Many churches started, and I wrote letters to those churches and to my friends. I am excited to share with you how God worked in my life.
On one of my journeys with my friend, Silas, we met a slave girl with an evil spirit. She told fortunes and earned a lot of money for her owner. She kept following us and calling out to us. The evil spirit in her knew who we were and that we were telling people about Jesus. Finally, I commanded the spirit to come out of her. It did. But the owner didn't like it, because now she couldn't tell fortunes anymore, and she wasn't earning any money for him. We were dragged into the market place and accused of causing trouble. We were beaten and thrown into jail. The officials told the jailer to make sure we didn't escape. The jailer put us in the most secure cell he had.
At midnight, a big earthquake broke open the doors of the jail. When the jailer woke up and saw the jail doors open, he thought that we had escaped. He began to kill himself with his own sword, because he knew his boss would kill him if we had escaped. I shouted to him, "Don't hurt yourself! We are all here!"
The jailer could not believe his eyes. He ran into our cell and fell down before us, shaking with fear. He asked us what he must do to be saved. We told him the great news about the Lord Jesus. I explained that all he needed to do was believe and trust in Jesus, and he and his family would be saved.
To help the jailer, I had to know who I was-my true identity a child of God with all of Christ's power inside of me. Apparently, the jailer saw my confidence, and God worked through me. The jailer and his whole family put their trust in Jesus that very night.
Later we went to Athens. The city was full of statues that the people worshipped. They called these statues "gods." Some of the people had never heard of the one true God, so I talked with many Jews and Greeks in the synagogue and the marketplace and told them the story of how God the Father sent His Son Jesus to the earth.
Jesus is the reason we can have peace with God. We can only have peace with God by trusting in Jesus. When we trust in Jesus, He takes our old life and gives us His new life. Jesus is God's Son and when we trust in Him we become part of God's family--we are God's children, we become one with Him. We have a union with God the Father and with Jesus that cannot be broken.
Let's thank God for all He has done and for His great love for us. Pray these words of praise to Him:
Dear God, as a believer in You I know who I am-I am Yours. I'm a child of God with all of Christ's power inside of me. I am one with You. Thank You that our union cannot be broken.
Use Acts 16:16 to 17:34 and the Life Connection Story. They will help you complete your Life Connection Response. Then do the Life Connection Activity.
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