AWANA, Week 4: (Acts 3:1-10)

)(these are scripts, written by Tim and Brahms for an AWANA Council Time series on the early church)

Moe is a horse puppet.
Joe and Jim are twin iguana puppets.

AWANA, WEEK 4: Acts 3:1-10

MOE: So, Tim, What do you have for me?

TIM: Nothing.

MOE: Really? No, c’mon, you have to have something to eat, I’m hungry.

TIM: Look, no food. Cell phone, keys, wallet, USB key.

MOE: Hmm…ok, no food. But, the cell phone does look promising. When are you going to get me a cell phone?

TIM: Cell phone? You don’t even make enough money to pay for your cookies and hay and you are talking about cell phones.

MOE: Sure, and then there’s the BMW and the PS3 and this mailbox is starting to look a little old and…

TIM: Whoa! Hold on there. What do you think? Am I made out of money?

MOE: You seem pretty rich to me.

TIM: Well, I don’t have a lot, but what I do have, I will give it to you

MOE: Whoo hoo! Nutter Butter, my favorite.



JOE: Hi, TIM, Hi, MOE. Hey, what’s all the noise about.

JIM: Yeah, did you just win a prize or something on the radio.

MOE: Oh, nothing.

TIM: MOE, I just gave you a package of cookies. 5 minutes ago you didn’t even have anything. Now you are hiding them from your friends.

MOE: Umm…

TIM: Why were you hiding them?

JOE/JIM: Yeah, why are you hiding them from your buddies?

MOE: Well, there are only a few cookies in here. And if JOE and JIM saw them, well, they like cookies too, and then there wouldn’t be very many for me.

TIM: You know, MOE, this isn’t a limited cookie universe.

BRAHMS: Yeah, its just like God’s blessings to us. This isn’t a limited blessing universe. When you take what you have and share it, then there’s more room for God to bless you.

TIM: Just like in the first church. The Bible says that Peter and John were headed up to the temple to go and pray. As they went, there was a man there who had never been able to walk ever since he was a baby.

BRAHMS: Oh, I remember this one. He couldn’t walk and his friends put him down near the temple so that he could ask for money, because he was really poor.

TIM: People often tried to help the poor by throwing them coins, silver or gold. So this man was asking them for money. But Peter and John didn’t have any money. But they still had one thing.

MOE: What did they have?

TIM: Peter said to the man: “Look at us!”

BRAHMS: Then the Bible says, Acts chapter 3, verse6 , “ Silver and gold I do not have but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk. Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong”

JOE/JIM: Wow! That guy must have been really happy.

TIM: He was. He started jumping up and down. He started shouting. He started praising God. People were wondering what was going on.

BRAHMS: You know, MOE, we don’t always have cookies. And we don’t always have money. But one thing we can always give away is the hope we have because of Jesus.

MOE: What do you mean?

BRAHMS: We all want to go to heaven. We would like our friends and family to go to heaven. But they can’t get there by themselves, because God only lets perfect people into heaven.

TIM: And it’s impossible, because none of us is perfect. But we tell them about Jesus. The Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” God wants to give that gift, and when you tell your friends about him, you are helping to give that gift.

MOE: So do I still have to share my cookies?

TIM: Any blessing should be shared.

MOE: Ok. Here you go.

JOE/JIM: Yeah.

TIM: Now here’s how people tell people about Jesus, around the world.

AWANA, Week 3 (Acts 2:14-47)

(these are the scripts written by Tim and Brahms for AWANA, in a continuing series on the early church)

Moe is a horse puppet.
Joe and Jim are twin iguana puppets.

AWANA, WEEK 3: Acts 2:14-47

MOE: I still remember what Natalie said a few weeks ago, about church. She said: “Church is not a building; church is people who hang out with God.” That was really cool.

JOE: MOE, how did the church get started?

JIM: Yeah, MOE, why did people first decide they want get together and talk about God?

MOE: Well, I’m not sure. But you remember last week how there was the sound of a violent wind, the tongues of fire and lots of different languages?

JOE: Yeah. Must have been pretty crazy.

JIM: Yeah.

MOE: There were a lot of people there, thousands of people. They heard the wind; they saw the tongues of fire; they heard the languages. They wanted to know: What is going on? What does this mean? Are these people drunk? Maybe they had too much beer or wine!

JOE: So the church is a bunch of people who get together and act strange?

JIM: Strange way to start a religion.

MOE: It wasn’t like that. But it did get their attention.

TIM: Then a guy got up. His name was Peter. He was one of Jesus’ friends, but not the brave one. One time, when some people asked if he was Jesus’ friend, he pretended he didn’t know or like him, so he wouldn’t get in trouble.

MOE: Sounds like a loser. No friend of mine.

TIM: Because when Jesus came back to life, he told Peter what he did didn’t matter any more. He forgave Peter.

JOE: So that’s how the church started?

JIM: How?

JOE: Peter gives a big speech, blah, blah, blah, everybody’s happy and they throw a big party, and that’s the church?

JIM: Party church!

BRAHMS: Actually, Peter said "Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. “ (Acts 2:22-24)

TIM: When the people saw Peter standing there; when the people saw the tongues of flame and heard the wind, they realized that these were the same types of miracles that Jesus had done. When Peter was talking, they figured out they were the ones who did something wrong. The Bible says, “For all [everyone] has sinned.”

MOE: What did they do? They must have been really sad.

TIM: Read what the Bible said:

MOE: “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"

JOE/JIM: What did they do?

MOE: Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

TIM: If you do something wrong, who gets punished? Does your brother get punished? Does your dog get punished? No, you get punished. But God, when you hurt him by the things you do wrong and you know they are wrong, said, I will send Jesus to take your punishment.

BRAHMS: Those people must have been really happy.

TIM: There were more than 3000. And those 3000 were the start of the church.

BRAHMS: Peter, hurt Jesus by pretending not to know him. Jesus forgave him. These people helped the men who nailed Jesus on the cross. Jesus forgave them. And you and me: we have all done things wrong. Jesus can forgive us.

TIM: So that we can live forever with God. And, so that we can be a part of his church, hanging out with people who love God.

BRAHMS: The people who were there would eventually go home, taking the good news of Jesus with them. Let’s learn a little bit more about people who are going around the world today, taking the good news of Jesus with them.