LESSON 15 SKIT Principle: Forgiveness Bible Character(s): Joseph Scripture Reference: Genesis 41-45 PERSONAL PREPARATION: Before this weekend, please read Genesis 41-50. Notice the chain of events leading up to Joseph s forgiveness of his brothers. Joseph s brothers hated him and sold him into slavery, but God was with Joseph when he was taken to Egypt. He used Joseph to be a blessing to others. Joseph s brothers turned from their past sin pattern to do what was right for their youngest brother Benjamin. When they went to Egypt, they received forgiveness from Joseph. Joseph had recognized how God had used his circumstance of being sold into slavery for good, and he did not hold a grudge against his brothers. How have you handled forgiveness in the past? How has it been a struggle to offer forgiveness? Spend some time thinking about the price of forgiveness. What do you have to give up when you offer forgiveness? What do you gain in offering forgiveness? Jesus has given us the ultimate example of what it means to forgive others. He experienced more suffering and persecution than we can comprehend, yet gave up His life so we could be forgiven of our sin. We can offer forgiveness to others, because we were forgiven through the grace and mercy of our God. The choices you make can lead you to continue down the broken sin pattern, or they can lead you to experience God s glory. Think about anyone in your life who you may be holding a grudge against, and pray for God to humble you and give you a gracious heart to forgive that person. BIG GROUP TIME - 35-40 minutes 1) Run-through/Prayer Run-through order of service (assigned parts, transitions, slides for music and skit, video if applicable, etc), assign door greeters, pray, mic check 2) Welcome Cabins Band member says, Welcome to Camp Grace! before intro song 3) Intro Song Revised 9/15 1
4) Camp Competition Bucket Head Have one camp counselor and one camper come up to the front. Line the camp counselors up sideby-side have them kneel. 1 st and 2 nd grade campers should be 3 feet away and 3 rd and 4 th grade campers 5 feet away. Give each counselor a bucket to place it on top of his/her head. Give each camper 5 Ping-Pong balls. Explain that the first camper to toss 3 balls in the bucket wins the camp banner. You may want to have the counselors wear safety goggles (more for humor than for safety!). Compete in heats as number of buckets and amount of space allows. 5) Worship Set Worship Connector How many of you have been hurt by someone before? How did it make you feel? How do you think God would want you to respond? When we ve been hurt by someone else, God wants us to choose to forgive that person, whether or not they apologize to us. We can do that because God already showed us how: He forgave us of our sin by sending His only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for us. It is difficult to forgive, but we should care more about bringing glory to God than getting what we think we deserve. As we sing this last song, think about how faithful and gracious God is in forgiving us, and how God can help you forgive others. 6) Skit Forgiveness ProPresenter: None Characters Actor #1 Actor #2: Ms. Bea Props Large shoebox (or similar sized box) with the word, GRUDGE boldly printed/painted on the front 2 camp chairs Plate with a cookie on it Script: Worship Team exits stage Staff Member #1: (Walk on stage holding the box. Keep the box in your two hands the entire time you re speaking.) Hi, everyone and welcome to Camp Grace! I wonder who remembers the person from the Bible who we talked about last week. (Allow for responses.) You re right. We talked about Joseph. Remember, last week, we learned that Joseph s brothers were so jealous of Joseph that they wanted to kill him. This week we find out that they threw Joseph into a dry well until they could decide what to do with him. Imagine how afraid Joseph must have been in the cold, dark well as he listened to his own brothers plan his death. Revised 9/15 2
Joseph s brothers decided not to kill him, but to sell him as a slave to a group of merchants. The brothers sold Joseph. Can you imagine how Joseph must have felt to be sold like a bag of chips to a group of strangers? Joseph s brothers probably smiled as they watched Joseph being led away in chains. They thought they would never see him again. Imagine with me for a minute how it would feel to be Joseph and be treated so badly by your brothers. They sold him. I m sure Joseph was deeply hurt, confused, humiliated and angry. Ms. Bea: Oh, I know that story. Poor Joseph. How could his own brothers be so cruel? Staff Member #1: Hello, Ms. Bea. It s good to see you. Did you come to help me tell the Bible story? Ms. Bea: Well, actually, no. Honey, I know I m interrupting, but I have to admit that I forgot you would be here with the boys and girls talking about the Bible story. I really came by to try to catch you alone so you could taste a new cookie I created. Staff Member #1: A new cookie? You know I m always up for that. Did you create a new recipe? Ms. Bea: I sure did. I had a little time on my hands this morning and I played around with a few ingredients. I don t want to brag, but I think this might be the best cookie I ve ever tasted. I wanted you to taste it and let me know what you think. Staff Member #1: (Reach to grab the cookie, still holding the box.) You don t have to ask me twice. I love being the camp cookie taster. I just can t seem to I can t quite...i can t get it, Ms. Bea. Ms. Bea: Oh, honey, I see what the problem is. In fact, I think we all see the problem, don t we boys and girls? Staff Member #1: You do? Ms. Bea: Well, of course. You seem to be holding a grudge. Staff Member #1: A grudge? What s that? Ms. Bea: I m not sure what you younger folks are calling it these days, but in my day, when you couldn t forgive someone for something they did, you were holding a grudge. Staff Member #1: Well, Ms. Bea, it just so happens that there is someone who I don t want to forgive. I m so furious that I ll never be able to forgive him. Ms. Bea: Oh dear. This sounds serious. Do you want to talk about it? Maybe we could help you. Revised 9/15 3
Staff Member #1: I let one of the camp staffers, who shall remain nameless (With attitude.), borrow my ipod. I just got it for my birthday! It can play music and I can watch movies on it! Long story short: My EX-friend dropped my ipod, broke it and in doing so, broke our friendship (Very dramatic). Ms. Bea: I know how you young people love these ipods. So, I can see how you might be upset. I m sure the boys and girls understand your feelings, too. But honey, a friendship is much more important than an ipod. Can t you try to forgive your friend? Staff Member #1: EX-friend and no, I don t plan to forgive him. Ms. Bea: When we ve been hurt or we re angry with someone, it s not easy to forgive - not easy at all. But what we have to remember is that God is so quick to forgive us and we hurt Him all the time. He wants us to be quick to forgive. In Mark 11:25, Jesus said, If you hold anything against anyone, forgive him Staff Member #1: I know God wants me to forgive, but I just can t. Ms. Bea: There is more to Mark 11:25. I wasn t quite finished. Listen. If you hold anything against anyone, forgive him so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins. See, honey, God loves you more than you know and He wants the best for you. He knows that holding a grudge will weigh you down and keep you from moving on to better things. Not only that, but a grudge will keep you from growing closer to God. Staff Member #1: Ms. Bea, how do I forgive someone who never even said I m sorry or asked for my forgiveness? Ms. Bea: You may not want to hear this, but it really doesn t matter if your friend apologized. What matters is that you obey God and do the right thing. The right thing is to forgive as God forgives you. Staff Member #1: Ms. Bea, you re right. This grudge is weighing me down. All I can think about is how my friend broke my favorite game. It does feel like a big weight is sitting on top of me. I want to do the right thing and obey God. I m going to forgive and let go of this grudge. (Slowly release the box and let it fall.) Wow! I feel so, so, FREE. I feel like I ve let go of a giant weight. Ms. Bea: Well, I m so glad. Let s let the boys and girls go back to their cabins so they can learn more about Joseph. You can pray and dismiss them, and then we ll go back to the cafeteria and talk more about forgiveness over some of my new cookies. Staff Member #1: Sounds great! Let s pray. Father, thank You for loving us and knowing what is best for us. Thank You for giving us Your Word to help us make the right choices. Thank You most of all for Your forgiveness when we sin against You. Help us to learn how to forgive like You forgave us. Be with us in our cabins as we learn more about forgiveness. Revised 9/15 4
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