Paraphrased from Acts 9:20-30
Paul Spoke Boldly
After Paul began to follow Christ, he stayed in
Damascus. Immediately he began to talk
about Jesus in the synagogues. He told
the people, “Jesus is the Son of God.”
All the people who heard him speak so boldly were amazed. They asked, “Isn’t this the same man who was
arresting and hurting believers in Jerusalem?
Didn’t he come here to take back those who believe in Jesus as
prisoners?”
Paul continued boldly telling the people about Jesus the
Messiah. The Jews became confused and
angry at Paul’s message. They planned to
kill Paul. The city of Damascus had a
wall around it and the Jews knew there were only a few gates out of the
city. They began to watch the gates in
case he tried to leave through one of them.
When Paul found out about their plan, he and other believers
made a plan to get Paul out of Damascus safely.
They knew they could not go through the city gates because the Jews were
watching them. So, at night, his disciples
lowered him in a basket through an opening in the city wall.
After escaping the Jews in Damascus, Paul returned to the
city of Jerusalem. He wanted to meet the
disciples of Jesus in Jerusalem, but they were all afraid of him because he had
persecuted them before. They did not
believe he was a follower of Christ. One
disciple, named Barnabas, took Paul and brought him before the apostles. Barnabas spoke boldly to the apostles and
told them the story of Paul being stopped by the Lord on the road and becoming
a follower of Christ. He told the
apostles how Paul had changed and had spoken in Jesus’ name in Jerusalem. He spoke to some of the Jews there. This group tried to kill Paul, too! The other believers helped Paul escape by
taking him to Caesarea and then to the city of Tarsus.
