Laredo VBS skit

Day 1 Monday: Fall of man/Weight of Sin

4 kids enter the cave against the warnings from their parents. Christian enters cave with large backpack full of useless items and is extremely cautious and worried. He knows the rumors of the giant and the dangers but he disobeys. The other kids are not worried. They are joking around and teasing Christian for being a scaredy cat. Suddenly, the rocks fall, trapping the kids in the cave (This will be pretend!). Lights are dimmed and at this point Christian panics, realizing the wall of rocks is too thick to dig his way out. His friends aren’t worried and think he is over reacting. The scene ends with Christian realizing he had been foolish and disobedient to his father who had warned him not to go into the cave. It was his sin that led to this deadly situation. “I’m a sinner, and I need help! What can I do to be saved now?!” Christian begins calling for “HELP!” as his friends look at him like he’s gone crazy.

I. Christian’s sin

Went against the warning from their parents

How many of you have ever disobeyed your parents like Christian? Why?

Here’s why:

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Who is “all”?

Everyone, including you

What is sin?

sin means to miss the mark. the sense of sin is to violate God’s holy law.

What does it mean to “fall short”?

Have any of you ever missed a basketball shot? Or threw up an airball?

Like sin, it means to miss or to fail or be late. We can never meet the demands of God’s law. Specifically in this verse it means to fall short of the glory of God. See God is perfect and holy. He is blameless and righteous. He never sins, He is actually unable to sin. Unlike us, all we do is sin!

Illustration: A flippant youth asked a preacher, “You say that unsaved people carry a weight of sin. I feel nothing. How heavy is sin? Is it ten pounds? Eighty pounds?” The preacher replied by asking the youth, “If you laid a four-hundred-pound weight on a corpse, would it feel the load?” The youth replied, “It would feel nothing, because it is dead.” The preacher concluded, “That spirit, too, is indeed dead which feels no load of sin or is indifferent to its burden and flippant about its presence.” The youth was silenced!

If all have sinned, and all fall short of the glory of God, how can anyone be saved? That was Christian’s question remember.

If you don’t feel the weight of sin, either one you are sinless (which no one is) or God has not yet revealed to you the weight of your sin. Well this week it is our hope that God reveals your sin to you so that he may also show you the punishment for that sin and what he did for sinners.

II. The scene ends with Christian realizing he had been foolish and disobedient to his father who had warned him not to go into the cave. It was his sin that led to this deadly situation. Christian cried out, “I’m a sinner, and I need help! What can I do to be saved now?!” He then cries out for help!

How does God help us?

Through reading his word, through the Holy Spirit, parents, teachers, pastors, and friends

Romans 10:13–15 “For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!””

Illustration: Messenger in the dust

The Lord has sent to you people in your life that have told you the good news about Jesus. How many of you have heard the gospel, the good news?

Judge according to the 10 commandments, this is not to judge you this is for you to judge yourself: How many of you have told a lie? How many of you have ever disobeyed your parents? How many have you stolen something?

Liar, disobedient, thief

If God judges you by the 10 commandments on judgment day are you going to be innocent or guilt?

We will all be guilty! But what did God do for guilty sinners so that we wouldn’t be punished for our sins

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came and lived a perfect life that neither you or I could live. Then he went to the cross to die for your sins, so that God would not punish you but punish his own innocent Son, because he loves you. Then Jesus rose from the dead revealing that he is in control of death and of life, and that his promises are true and those that repent of their sins, turn from their sins, and believe that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior…they will be saved. Thats the good news friends.

And when you feel the weight of your sin and realize that you will be punished for your sins, be like Christian and go to your parents, go to your pastor, go to a friend and tell them that you believe you are a sinner and you need help, and the only help that you have and need is Jesus Christ.

Do you think God is going to send Christian some help? We’ll see in the next skit!

Day 2 Tuesday: Follow the Narrow Way and the Light

The 3 friends are traveling through the dark cave. On the way, Christian sees a supply box and opens it to find a Bible and a flashlight. He realizes this is what will help him and is beginning to realize his backpack is heavy and weighing him down. Christian is carrying his Bible that is lighting the way and illuminating his face as they come to a sludge pit. The Narrow Path leads straight into the sludge so they are forced to cross through it. They begin to cross through and get stuck. Carter dips a toe in and decides to go back to the rock fall and dig her way out and abandons Christian and Jada. After struggling and panicking a bit under the weight of his giant backpack and almost drowning in the sludge, Christian remembers something else he read in the Bible, Isaiah 41:10a “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you...” Taking heart and being comforted by this verse Christian encourages his friend not to turn back but to trust that God will help them get out of this pit. Jada says, whatever you say, still in doubt. Christian looks around and sees a rope laying beside the pit! He uses it to pull his way out of the pit. Christian and friend make it out of the pit and Christian is resolved to keep following the Narrow Path to the Light. He is thankful that God helped them.

I. Narrow Way

Matthew 7:13–14 ““Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

What is being entered?

Either a narrow gate or a wide gate

What’s the difference?

The wide gate means many go through, and the way is easy, but that way leads to destruction

The narrow gate means few will go through, and the way is hard, but that way leads to life

The two gates are actually heading in opposite directions, since their destinations are as far apart as they could possibly be

Narrow?

difficult to get through, effort must be made to get through it

Wide?

easy, no effort needed

Illustration: Do anyone of you have friends or maybe family, that always wants you to join them when you know they may be doing something wrong? I had a group a friends when I was a little kid. There were a couple of older boys that liked to steal candy. I don’t know why I went with them, I guess I wanted them to like me. There was about 10 of us and we went to a gas station that had tons and tons of candy. All of a sudden the older boys stuffed candy in my pockets! Not theirs! Then they all took off running and left me there. The owner grabbed me and called the police and my mom! I got in so much trouble. I followed the crowd. It seemed that it would be fun and easy to be a bad kid with them.

In the same way, when we follow the crowd on the wide path and it seems easy, it will only lead to destruction or a phone call to mom! But by staying on the narrow path, you may need to say no to people, you may need to go on your own if it means honoring the Lord and not sinning. You may need to get yourself some friends that are also on the narrow path that can help you stay on it as well.

II. The Light

How do you stay on the narrow way?

By using the light that God has given you…John 8:12 “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.””

And how do you follow Jesus, the light?

With the Bible

Illustration: Are any of you scared of the dark? A little bit? Well the bible is not a flashlight. Neither is Jesus. What he means when he says he is the light of the world, is that when you see him, when you know him, the darkness of your own mind becomes clear. So it doesn’t matter if you are physically blind, the light that God provides is an internal light that allows you to see spiritually the beauty of Jesus Christ and the gospel.

And that helps you to not be fearful or scared about your life

Isaiah 41:10 “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

The narrow way is hard, it takes effort, but God provides you with the light you need to conquer your fears so that you can stay on the right path. God says he is with you and that he will strengthen you and he will help you, and he will uphold you with his righteous right hand.

If God is for us, who can be against us

Even though Christian was on the narrow path, he fell into the sludge, he was struggling, but then he remembered that he had the light. Even though they were stuck and were struggling, Christian remembered what he had read, Isaiah 41:10 “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” And it brought him comfort, and the Lord helped him

So if you ever feel like sin is easy and fun, remember that it leads to destruction. And when you get back on the right path, keep reading your bible because it will give you the light you need to see your way through this dark world, especially when you get discouraged or disappointed, and we will see how Christian deals with discouragement and disappointment next.

Day 3 Wednesday: The Cross of Christ/Loss of Burden

Christian and J continue their depressing conversation. Christian agrees that his burden is weighing him down like the Giant said and he doesn’t know how to get rid of it. J says, “ I guess the Giant is right we are stuck in this dark cave for good. There is no way we are making it out of here. I bet he’s right about the Narrow Path too, it probably does just go in circles.” Then Christian remembers his Bible. He opens it and the light shines and he reads John 8:12 again. “Jesus said, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” He chooses to believe that verse and a key falls out from the Bible. He uses it to unlock his chains but J doesn’t want to go with him even though Christian begs him to believe the verse and trust that it is true. The Giant starts to come back out with his silverware and plate and Christian flees, sadly leaving Jada behind.

John 8:12 “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.””

Christian chose to believe this verse and God helped him by causing keys to fall from his bible to unlock his chains so he could escape. But Jada chose not to listen to God’s word or Christian. So what happened to Jada?

She was left behind and fell to her depression and discouragement

You see if you don’t have God’s word, this world will consume you. And if you won’t listen to people who are trying to tell you the good news and help you, you too will fall under the weight of sin and doubt.

But let’s say you are like Christian, you believe God’s word and you desire to help others but maybe they aren’t listening to you? What can you do?

Pray for them, encourage them, be patient with them, be kind, be loving, be understanding, and continue to point them to the truth that Jesus died for their sins and if they repent and believe they will be saved, they will be helped not only in this life but the life to come in heaven with God.

Does anyone here like ice cream? Imagine I had a gigantic freezer here with every kind of ice cream flavor there is. Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, bubblegum, grape, apple, lime, lemon, pistachio, carmel. And I said, “Hey, I got ice cream over here! I know it’s so hot today, come and have some ice cream and cool off!” And imagine you said, “No thanks.” And I said, “But aren’t you hot and tired? Don’t you like ice cream?” And you say, “I love ice cream but I don’t believe you. I think I’ll just sit here and suffer and be hot!” Does that make sense? No of course not. In the same way, if you don’t believe the good news about Jesus, you deny that he died for your sins, you deny that he was resurrected from the dead, then you are just choosing to suffer and be hot, and not to receive the free gift of salvation, that is so much sweeter and more refreshing than ice cream.

Illustration: Life boat

So, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved.

And what we will see next, is Christian is going to come face to face with the cross of Christ and the burden that has been on his back this whole journey will finally be cast away