THE STORYTELLER'S BIBLE
Act VII - Acts and the Pauline Epistles
Script by Bob Allen
For four voices

Scene 8

                                    (READERS # 2 AND # 3 TURN BACKS TO THE AUDIENCE)

2                                 3

1    4

VOICE ONE:             Welcome to Philippi.  This ancient city, built by the father of Alexander the Great, has hosted such notable visitors as Mark Antony and Octavian, who here defeated two of Julius Caesar’s assassins, Brutus and Cassius.

VOICE FOUR:          And Paul?

VOICE ONE:             No, Paul was not one of Caesar’s assassins.

VOICE FOUR:          Notable visitors.  Didn’t Paul ever stop here?

VOICE ONE:             What if he did?  Cities aren’t remembered because of preachers, they are remembered because of politicians.

VOICE FOUR:          But did any of them write a history of Philippi?

VOICE ONE:             Why would they?  They only came to visit.

VOICE FOUR:          But there is such a writing, isn’t there?  Written about the people in the town who started a church during Paul’s visit?

VOICE ONE:             Enough questions.  This way to the ruins of the Roman military colony.

VOICE FOUR:          And the prison?

VOICE ONE:             How did you know there was a prison?

VOICE FOUR:          Paul.  That’s where the Philippian jailor got saved.

VOICE ONE:             You seem to know an awful lot about Philippi for never having visited here before.

VOICE FOUR:          Just the people.  The jailor, and Lydia the seller of purple, and a fortune-teller who used to follow Paul through the streets.

VOICE ONE:             What happened to her?

VOICE FOUR:          She turned to salvation in Christ and became part of the Philippian church.  That’s why Paul was thrown into prison.

VOICE ONE:             Where he led the jailor to the Lord?

VOICE FOUR:          Right!  Those kinds of things were always happening to Paul.  That’s why he wrote, “Christ shall be magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death.”

VOICE ONE:             Quite a motto.  Apparently that worked for Paul, but what about these people in Philippi?  I can’t imagine that a Roman jailor, a Jewish saleslady and a Greek fortune-teller would have much in common.

VOICE FOUR:          They didn’t!  Except for Christ, that is.  They had Him in common, and they became cross-bearers just like Him.

VOICE ONE:             You mean they were to get themselves crucified?

VOICE FOUR:          No!  They were to crucify themselves.

VOICE ONE:             You’ll have to explain that one.

VOICE FOUR:          Well, Christ went to the cross for the good of others rather than Himself.

VOICE ONE:             I can see that.

VOICE FOUR:          And they learned to have the same attitude—not looking on their own personal interests, but also looking out for the interests of others.  They learned to have the same love for one another that Jesus had for them.

VOICE ONE:             That must have been quite a church.

VOICE FOUR:          They certainly were.  Selfless, humble and compassionate.  The mind of Christ.  Paul says that they not only cared for one another, they were the first church who supported him in his missionary journeys.  

VOICE ONE:             Journeys?  You mean Paul went to other cities? 

VOICE FOUR:          He certainly did.  He went from Jerusalem all the way over to Spain.  And he wrote lots of letters.  Let me tell you about them.