# Whitewashed Tombs - The Book of Acts

An episode of [Kids Bible in a Year with Julia Jeffress Sadler](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1696638708), 9 May 2024, 11 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/f8ddd7fd-69c6-48d0-804f-b4d6010c327c/ae31c9e8-4baa-4e3c-99dc-b4d601478ec3/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=14e8ed60-20b2-4d5c-a832-b4d6010c3283

Join Julia Jeffress Sadler as she takes us on an incredible adventure in Episode 214. Sign up to receive Kids Bible in a Year devotionals in your inbox every weekday: https://www.kidsbibleinayear.com/ Get ready to experience the Bible designed specifically for children with the official KidsBibleinaYear.com podcast, led by Julia Jeffress Sadler. This captivating audio series presents the age-old wisdom of the Bible in an engaging format that will captivate your kids. Each episode Julia translates biblical teachings into real-life applications, making Bible comprehension a breeze for young minds. And if you want more Christian resources and content, you can download the Pray.com app. Pray.com is the digital destination for faith, offering over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime Bible stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible. For more resources on how to live a successful Christian life, visit Julia Jeffress Sadler's website at https://ptv.org/julia/. This episode is sponsored by Little Passports. Visit LittlePassports.com/blessed and use promo code BLESSED to receive 20% off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: The following night the Lord stood by him and said,
[0:03] Speaker 1: Dear God, no one can comfort us like you. When
[0:06] Speaker 1: we feel alone and sad, only you can fill our
[0:08] Speaker 1: hearts with peace. And even though we can't see you,
[0:11] Speaker 1: we know you are there. You promised that you would be.
[0:31] Speaker 1: Thank you for being our comforter and our friend. In Jesus'
[0:36] Speaker 1: name I pray.
[0:37] Speaker 2: Amen.
[0:40] Speaker 3: Thank you for praying with us today. The Kids Bible
[0:43] Speaker 3: in a Year podcast is sponsored by Little Passports, delivering
[0:46] Speaker 3: monthly activity kit subscriptions that help kids explore the world,
[0:50] Speaker 3: cultivate curiosity, and discover new interests with hands-on crafts and
[0:55] Speaker 3: activities in cooking, science, crafts, and more. all with a
[0:59] Speaker 3: unique cultural twist. Visit littlepassports.com slash blessed to learn more
[1:04] Speaker 3: and save 20% with code blessed.
[1:13] Speaker 2: Whitewashed tombs. In our last story, Paul made his way
[1:18] Speaker 2: to Jerusalem and was arrested in the temple and told
[1:21] Speaker 2: his personal story, which enraged the crowd. Paul was a
[1:25] Speaker 2: Roman citizen, And so he was given his rights and untied.
[1:30] Speaker 2: In this story, the Jews will continue to plot a
[1:33] Speaker 2: way to kill Paul. As inspired by Acts.
[1:41] Speaker 1: Hi friends, it's Julia. And we are so excited to
[1:44] Speaker 1: be with you today for another story in Kids Bible
[1:48] Speaker 1: in a Year podcast. Paul is being passed around like
[1:52] Speaker 1: a basketball today, avoiding the Jews, secretly sent off to
[1:56] Speaker 1: another town, and thrown into prison once again. But in
[2:01] Speaker 1: the middle of it all, Jesus is going to show
[2:04] Speaker 1: up right there in front of him and give him
[2:07] Speaker 1: all the strength he needs. Listen close and ask God
[2:12] Speaker 1: in your heart to speak to you today.
[2:19] Speaker 2: That meant that he could not be punished without a trial.
[2:22] Speaker 2: So the commander brought Paul to the Jewish council to
[2:25] Speaker 2: give him a trial. Standing before all the leaders of
[2:28] Speaker 2: the community, Paul said, Please listen to me. I will
[2:33] Speaker 2: defend myself. I know I am innocent because what I
[2:36] Speaker 2: did was good in the eyes of the Lord. The
[2:39] Speaker 2: high priest heard what Paul said and called over some
[2:42] Speaker 2: guards to hit Paul in the mouth. God will hit
[2:46] Speaker 2: you back. You make no sense. You punish me because
[2:50] Speaker 2: I break the law, but tell your guards to hit me,
[2:53] Speaker 2: which is against the law as well. Paul was frustrated.
[2:57] Speaker 2: He didn't understand why they were treating him so rudely.
[3:02] Speaker 2: Who do you think you are? You can't talk to
[3:05] Speaker 2: him like that. He's the high priest. One of the
[3:08] Speaker 2: men on the council yelled at Paul, clearly offended.
[3:12] Speaker 1: I'm so sorry.
[3:13] Speaker 2: Paul apologized. I didn't realize he was the high priest.
[3:18] Speaker 2: I know the scripture tells us not to talk back
[3:20] Speaker 2: to the ruler of the people. When he looked at
[3:22] Speaker 2: the council, he saw that there were two different groups
[3:25] Speaker 2: that made up the men in the meeting. Even though
[3:28] Speaker 2: these two groups made up the council, they had very
[3:31] Speaker 2: different beliefs. The Sadducees didn't believe that people could come
[3:35] Speaker 2: back from the dead, and they didn't believe in angels.
[3:38] Speaker 2: The Pharisees believed in everything they didn't. The council started
[3:43] Speaker 2: to argue with one another. In the midst of their yelling,
[3:46] Speaker 2: one of the council members grabbed Paul. Other members pulled
[3:50] Speaker 2: him as well until a soldier saved him. The soldier
[3:53] Speaker 2: took Paul back to where the other soldiers lived. While
[3:56] Speaker 2: everyone was sleeping, the Lord appeared to Paul and spoke
[4:00] Speaker 2: to him. Don't be down on yourself. You represented me
[4:04] Speaker 2: to my people here in Jerusalem. Now you will go
[4:07] Speaker 2: to Rome and do the same thing. When the morning came,
[4:11] Speaker 2: 40 men all sat down and had a meeting about Paul.
[4:15] Speaker 2: They made a promise to each other that they wouldn't
[4:17] Speaker 2: eat or drink until Paul was dead. These same men
[4:21] Speaker 2: went to the Jewish council and said, You need to
[4:24] Speaker 2: examine Paul again. Tell the commander that you want another trial.
[4:28] Speaker 2: Whenever Paul comes close to us, we will kill him.
[4:32] Speaker 2: This will make life better for all of us. There
[4:35] Speaker 2: will be no more trouble for the Pharisees or the Sadducees.
[4:39] Speaker 2: Paul's nephew heard the men talking and ran as fast
[4:43] Speaker 2: as he could to Paul. Taking a deep breath, Paul
[4:46] Speaker 2: asked one of the soldiers to come over. Can you
[4:49] Speaker 2: take my nephew to the commander? He has something to
[4:52] Speaker 2: tell him. When Paul's nephew met with the commander, he
[4:56] Speaker 2: confessed everything he heard the 40 men say. The commander
[5:00] Speaker 2: told Paul's nephew that he understood. The commander got a
[5:03] Speaker 2: huge group of guards in different ranks to protect Paul
[5:07] Speaker 2: and take him to another city. In this other city,
[5:10] Speaker 2: he would be under the protection of another man named Felix.
[5:15] Speaker 2: The commander sent a letter to Felix that stated, The
[5:17] Speaker 2: Jews want to kill Paul, but they can't because he
[5:20] Speaker 2: is a Roman citizen. We gave him a trial, but
[5:23] Speaker 2: the council started arguing about something he said about God.
[5:27] Speaker 2: What he said definitely did not deserve death or even
[5:31] Speaker 2: a night in jail. There is a secret plot to
[5:34] Speaker 2: kill Paul, and that's why I am sending him to
[5:36] Speaker 2: your city. I'll send the people who accused him so
[5:39] Speaker 2: you can have a trial in your city. Hopefully it
[5:42] Speaker 2: will go a lot better than the trial that happened here.
[5:45] Speaker 2: Paul was safely brought to Felix's city named Caesarea. While
[5:50] Speaker 2: he was there, he was allowed to stay under guard
[5:53] Speaker 2: in the palace Herod built until his trial.
[6:02] Speaker 1: Okay, let's talk about everything that's happened in today's Paul's story.
[6:07] Speaker 1: As we heard, he was brought to the Jewish High
[6:10] Speaker 1: Council for a trial. This was a big chance for
[6:14] Speaker 1: him to speak in front of very important rulers. Was
[6:17] Speaker 1: he nervous? It doesn't seem so. The Bible says that
[6:22] Speaker 1: he spoke boldly and with passion. That means he was strong, loud,
[6:28] Speaker 1: and confident. Do you know what makes you bold and
[6:32] Speaker 1: strong when everything in you is telling you to be scared?
[6:36] Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit of God. It's the same Spirit that
[6:40] Speaker 1: lives inside of you and inside of me. When you
[6:44] Speaker 1: need to speak up for God or go the right way,
[6:48] Speaker 1: when everyone else is going the wrong way, the Holy
[6:52] Speaker 1: Spirit will give you the strength to do it. Remember,
[6:56] Speaker 1: there was nothing special about Paul. But there was something
[7:00] Speaker 1: special about God working through Paul. So Paul told these
[7:05] Speaker 1: important rulers that he had done nothing wrong, only to
[7:09] Speaker 1: get hit in the mouth by a guard. Not knowing
[7:12] Speaker 1: it was the high priest, the one in charge, who
[7:15] Speaker 1: commanded the guard to hit him, Paul accused him of
[7:19] Speaker 1: being a whitewashed tomb. What did he mean by that?
[7:23] Speaker 1: Think back to how Jesus spoke to the Pharisees and
[7:27] Speaker 1: the many teachers of the law who loved to judge
[7:31] Speaker 1: others and thought they were better than everyone. Paul meant
[7:35] Speaker 1: that the man who ordered the guard to hit him
[7:38] Speaker 1: looked nice and clean on the outside, but inside his
[7:42] Speaker 1: heart was dirty and sinful. This is always a good
[7:45] Speaker 1: reminder for those who love and follow God. Does my
[7:49] Speaker 1: outside match my inside? In other words, am I pretending
[7:54] Speaker 1: to be good, but inside I am selfish, prideful, or hateful?
[7:59] Speaker 1: Am I looking like I have everything together, but my
[8:02] Speaker 1: heart is far from God? Well, since the council couldn't
[8:06] Speaker 1: stop arguing and fighting over whether or not Paul should
[8:10] Speaker 1: be punished, the soldier took him away before another big
[8:14] Speaker 1: fight broke out and threw him in jail with the
[8:18] Speaker 1: other prisoners. Today we read a special part of Paul's story.
[8:24] Speaker 1: Jesus came to cheer up Paul in prison. It's as
[8:29] Speaker 1: if God knew Paul was feeling sad and he wanted
[8:32] Speaker 1: to remind him of his love. It's like God whispered
[8:36] Speaker 1: to him, cheer up. You are doing great. I'm so
[8:41] Speaker 1: proud of you. Keep going. Keep preaching my message wherever
[8:45] Speaker 1: you go and never quit. I am with you. That's
[8:50] Speaker 1: the kindness of God. He's so loving and so tender
[8:55] Speaker 1: and so close to us. He loves his children so much,
[9:00] Speaker 1: and when they are sad, he is sad. Just as
[9:04] Speaker 1: Jesus spoke lovingly to Paul, he speaks lovingly to us
[9:08] Speaker 1: today through his word. He reminds us that no matter
[9:13] Speaker 1: what we do, he loves us and will never leave us.
[9:18] Speaker 1: He tells us that when things get sad, we can
[9:21] Speaker 1: rest in him and trust him to handle it all. Well,
[9:26] Speaker 1: as we heard, the Jews were not giving up and
[9:29] Speaker 1: put together a plan to kill Paul. Paul's nephew just
[9:34] Speaker 1: happened to hear about this and told the commander. So
[9:38] Speaker 1: the story ends with Paul being sent off secretly to
[9:41] Speaker 1: a place called Caesarea to begin a new trial under
[9:46] Speaker 1: a governor named Felix. It's not over yet, but the
[9:50] Speaker 1: stage is set for Paul with another big opportunity to
[9:54] Speaker 1: share the gospel. And of course, he's going to take it.
[9:59] Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. Ready to say it with me? The
[10:03] Speaker 1: Bible is the best story ever told. It's God's story
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[10:41] Speaker 1: Kids Bible in a Year. I want to invite our
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[10:47] Speaker 1: Truth on Today's Topics. It's unfiltered, important, inspiring, and we
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