Character Needed - Bible Sketches 27

CHARACTER NEEDED – BIBLE SKETCHES

Character Needed, by Robert Allen, published by Regular Baptist Press, includes 33 skits illustrating the truths of each of the verses in Proverbs 15.  These Character Needed – Bible Sketches are designed to accompany those contemporary plays, illustrating the same character traits by use of a Bible story. 

 

CHARACTER NEEDED

LOT’S FAILURE

Proverbs 15:27

Genesis 13:12-13; 19:12-17

Character Trait: Caring

Cast of Characters

                        Hannah

                        Elah

                        Lot

                        Narrator

                        Angel

HANNAH:                 Daddy, are we going to move?

LOT:                           Move?  Whatever gave you that idea?

HANNAH:                 Well, I heard you and Mom talking about Sodom the other night.  It would be so exciting to live in the big city.  There’s nothing to do out here in the country.

LOT:                           Well, we have considered it.  There would be some advantages as far as my work in concerned.  Some of the men of the city have even suggested that they would be willing to have me on the city council if we would move.  But I’m not sure I want you girls to marry those city fellows.  They’re mighty wild.

ELAH:                        Oh, Daddy.  You don’t need to worry about that.  But if we stay out here in the country, we might never get married at all.

NARRATOR:             Lot stepped to the door of his tent and gazed out across the plains toward the lights of the city of Sodom.  He had thought about moving there ever since he left the Jordan Valley where he and Abraham had lived as neighbors for many years.  But he hadn’t realized his children wanted to move there too.

LOT:                           I really don’t like the way the people in Sodom live, girls.  They don’t know anything about Jehovah.  They don’t fear Him at all.

HANNAH:                 Maybe we can teach them about God.  Please, Daddy.  There are so many wonderful stores in Sodom, we could go shopping every day.

LOT:                           And spend all my money before I can even make it.  I don’t know.  I’ll have to think about it some more.

NARRATOR:             It didn’t take too much thinking after that, even though Lot knew the people of Sodom didn’t believe in God.  The advantages of living in a big city, serving on the city council, and having beautiful things for his family overcame all the possible disadvantages spiritually.

ELAH:                        Really Daddy?  We’re going to move to Sodom?

LOT:                           Yes.  I’ve decided to make the move.  But you have to promise me something.

HANNAH:                 Anything Daddy.  What do you want?

LOT:                           I want you to promise that you will never forget Jehovah God.

ELAH:                        O, Daddy.  We would never forget God.  We promise.

NARRATOR:             So Lot and his family moved to Sodom.  For several months things went well.  Lot was elected to the city council and sat with them in the gate.  The girls got to know the other young people and were invited to all the big parties.  Eventually they met young men who wanted to marry them.

ELAH:                        He’s such a wonderful person, Daddy.  You will let me marry him, won’t you?

LOT:                           But if he’s one of the young men from here in Sodom he doesn’t believe in Jehovah.  Are you going to marry a man who doesn’t believe in God?

HANNAH:                 She loves him, Daddy.  Besides, none of our friends here in Sodom believe in God.  Your friends don’t either.

NARRATOR:             Lot didn’t know what to say.  He really didn’t want his daughters to marry men from Sodom, but he hated to say “no” to them.  So he agreed and soon both Hannah and Elah were married.  A few years went by until the sins of Sodom became so great that God decided to destroy the city.  First he sent two messengers to warn Lot and his family to get out.

ANGEL:                     Do you have any relatives in the city besides your sons and daughters and their husbands?  You need to warn them to get out.  God is going to destroy this place.

LOT:                           Please give me time to go tell my daughters and their husbands.  I’ll tell them what you have said and surely they will listen to me.  Please don’t destroy the city before I tell them to escape.

NARRATOR:             Lot hurried over to the house where his oldest daughter and her husband lived.

LOT:                           Hannah!  You and your husband need to pack up and get out of Sodom immediately.  God is going to destroy the city.

HANNAH:                 Oh, Daddy.  Don’t be silly.

HUSBAND:               God?  Who are you talking about?

LOT:                           Jehovah God.  The God of our fathers.  The One we worship.

HUSBAND:               You’ve never told me about him before.  Why should I believe you now?

LOT:                           But you have to get out?

HUSBAND:               That’s ridiculous.  Go on home old man.

NARRATOR:             Sadly Lot left the house and went to where Elah lived with her family.  But her husband laughed at him too.  Lot had to leave the city with only his two youngest daughters and his wife.  And when God destroyed the city, all the rest of his family died with the people of Sodom.  Lot had gained many things, but he had lost his family.

Character Needed - Bible Sketches 26

CHARACTER NEEDED – BIBLE SKETCHES

Character Needed, by Robert Allen, published by Regular Baptist Press, includes 33 skits illustrating the truths of each of the verses in Proverbs 15.  These Character Needed – Bible Sketches are designed to accompany those contemporary plays, illustrating the same character traits by use of a Bible story. 

CHARACTER NEEDED

 

JOSEPH’S KIND WORDS

Proverbs 15:26

Genesis 50:15-21

Character Trait:  Kindness

Cast of Characters

                        Narrator

                        Dan

                        Levi

                        Dan’s Wife

                        Joseph

NARRATOR:             Jacob was dead.  He had lived for many years and seen his entire family provided for in a wonderful way down in Egypt.  For his funeral, all twelve of his sons traveled back up into the Promised Land and buried him there.  Now they were back with their families in Egypt.  But some of the brothers and their wives started to get worried.

DAN:                          Do you remember how we used to tease Joseph when he was a boy, and call him names?

LEVI:                          Sure do.

DAN:                          Remember how we used to laugh at him for his dreams?

LEVI:                          What were we supposed to think when he told us that we were stars bowing down to his star.

DAN’S WIFE:            We all used to laugh at him.  Do you suppose he remembers that?

DAN:                          I bet he does.  And I’m sure he remembers how we through him down into that well and then sold him into slavery.

LEVI:                          And what we did to his beautiful coat.

DAN’S WIFE:            But does any of that matter now that he’s the second ruler in all of Egypt?

DAN:                          He might still hate us for what we did.

LEVI:                          That’s what worries me.  If you had all treated me like that, I would remember.  We said some pretty hateful things.

DAN:                          If he hates us, he is going to get his revenge now that father has died.  He’s going to pay us back for all the evil we did to him.

DAN’S WIFE:            So what can we do about it?

LEVI:                          Maybe a couple of us should go and ask him to forgive us.  If we don’t, we’re going to be in big trouble.

DAN’S WIFE:            Great idea.  Why don’t you and Dan go?

NARRATOR:             So two of Joseph’s brothers went up to the palace.  Joseph was seated on a throne in a beautiful room, all decorated in gold and silver.  He called for t hem to come in as soon as he knew they were waiting.

JOSEPH:                     Dan.  Levi.  What can I do for you?

DAN:                          Please forgive us, sir.

JOSEPH:                     Forgive you?  For what?

LEVI:                          For all the terrible things we did to you when we were younger.  All those evil things we said about you.

DAN:                          You have a right to hate us.

LEVI:                          But we’re pleading with you to forgive us.  It was wrong to sell you into slavery.  I know you probably want revenge and we are all willing to be your servants.  That would be only just since you had to serve as a slave because of us.

JOSEPH:                     Levi.  Dan.  You don’t need to be afraid of me.

LEVI:                          But you are a great ruler.

JOSEPH:                     I am also your brother.

DAN:                          And we’ve done such terrible things to you.

JOSEPH:                     I know.  You thought that you were doing evil when you sold me into Egypt.  But God meant it for good.  Look what He has done through this.  He made it possible for father’s entire family to have enough to eat when there was famine in every part of the world.  All your families have been kept alive because God turned everything out for good.

DAN:                          I never thought of it what way.

JOSEPH:                     So you have no need to fear.  I will continue to see that you and your little ones are cared for.  I don’t hate you and you have no reason to fear.

NARRATOR:             Joseph kept his word.  All the rest of his life he made sure that his brothers and their families were well cared for.  God had been kind to him, and he knew what it was to be kind to others.