Lesson 134 - Elementary

Memory Verse

"Glorify God for his mercy" (Romans 15:9).

Notes

Paul's Sermon

For one week Paul had been with friends in the city of Troas. The revival meetings ended on a Sunday evening with a farewell service for Paul and his party. Early the next day they were to begin the long journey to Jerusalem. Paul loved these dear people who had listened to his sermons all week, but he wanted to preach one more sermon to them. He must teach them all he could about Jesus. Then they could go and teach others to love and serve Jesus, too.

Paul was always busy working for Jesus. This was his third missionary journey; and although he suffered many hard things, he was determined to keep right on telling the Gospel Story. He knew that there was a crown of life waiting for him at the end of his life.

It was not in a beautiful church where the revival services were held, but in a room on the third floor of a building. The place was filled with people who had come to hear Paul's last sermon – not everyone had a chair. Perhaps some of the people leaned against the wall, others may have sat on the floor. One young man named Eutychus found a seat in a window.

The Young Man Who Slept

The minutes ticked into hours, until the clock struck midnight. Preacher Paul had more to say, so he kept right on teaching the people. Everyone sat listening, except the young man in the window. He must have been just too sleepy to keep his eyes open. No doubt the window still was not very comfortable, so in his sleep Eutychus might have moved and tried to find a better spot. Can you guess what happened? Out of the window he fell! Down, down, from the third floor to the ground below -– what a long way to fall!

The meeting broke up at once, as the people rushed to the door and down the steps. They hurried to the young man and bent over his body. The fall had killed him.

A Miracle

But Paul quickly came to the rescue. He threw his arms around the boy and said to the people, "Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.” Through the faith of the man of God, the young man was once more alive!

As Eutychus opened his eyes and looked about him, he probably wondered just what had happened. Oh, yes, he had gone to sleep in church and fallen from the window. He knew that a miracle had happened or he would not be alive, and the friends who stood around him also realized that this was a miracle. We feel sure that Eutychus never forgot the day he fell asleep in church.

Leaving Troas

Let us go back to the upstairs room with Paul and the people. There they ate bread in memory of the last supper that Jesus ate with His disciples just before He was crucified. These people were so eager to learn all they could from Paul, the faithful missionary, that the rest of the night was spent talking about the things of God and Heaven.

Then as daylight began to appear it was time to say good-bye. Among the group of people who gathered about Paul was the young man who had been raised from the dead only a few hours before. Many hearts were made glad because of Paul's visit to the Christians in Troas.

The Same Jesus

When we read a story like this, our faith should become strong. We are serving the same Jesus whom Paul served and whose power has never changed. Jesus heals sick bodies today just as He did when He was on the earth.

The story of the healing of this boy recently brought faith to little Donna, aged four and a half, who was threatened with pneumonia. She asked her grandmother to read to her from her much-worn Testament. The grandmother read, in Matthew 9, that Jesus healed a little girl; and also in [ACT:20:9-12], about the boy who was raised from the dead. She then told the child to place the Testament under her pillow, and Jesus would heal her, too. Little Donna stopped coughing at once, and soon she threw off the covers, slid out of bed and said, "Jesus healed the little girl, He healed the little boy, and He has healed me.”

When we pray to Jesus, we must believe that He hears us, and then we may expect an answer every time. There is nothing too hard for Him to do.

Questions

1. How long was Paul in Troas? [ACT:20:6]

2. Tell what happened to Eutychus when he fell asleep. [ACT:20:9]

3. What did Paul do then? [ACT:20:10].

4. What did Jesus say about giving and receiving? [ACT:20:35].

5. Was Paul's life always an easy one? [ACT:20:19-24].