Big Idea:  God uses us even when we are sinful because He always does what He says He will do. He is faithFULL even when we are faithLESS.

Bible Passage: Genesis 25:27-34, 27:1-45

This week the kids heard about the story of the stolen blessing from Isaac to his sons, Jacob and Esau. They were twins, but they were also sibling rivals. There was trouble between them as they grew up. Even though Esau was the older son, who should have received the birth-right blessing from his father, Jacob dressed up as Esau and stole it, as his father was dying! Despite the mess that people made, and despite their sin, God chose to use these people to fulfill His plan. He was faithful and fulfilled the covenant that He made to Abraham, Isaac and then Jacob. We see in this story that even when people are faithless and sinful, that God is faithful and keeps his promises to bless us, anyway. 

We talked about how because of Jesus payment for our sins, we too can be blessed and used by God, even though we sin. We talked about how important it is to repent- that is to 'realign' ourselves with God. To turn back to Him each and every time we sin, because He promises to forgive us, continue to bless us and use us as part of His plan. No sin is too great for God not to forgive! We love our faithful God for never giving up on us.

Family Activity

Have a member of the family close their eyes or wear a blindfold, and put out their hands.Then choose another member of the family to touch the hands of the one with their eyes closed. Have the blindfolded person try to guess whose hands touched them. Repeat the game together until everyone has had a turn. Say to children that Jacob tricked his father into giving him the birth-right blessing that belonged to his brother. Even though his dishonesty was sinful, God still used Jacob in His plan to bless the nations. Talk about your own mistakes with children if possible, and remind children that the best thing to do when we sin is to turn back to God and repent. He promises to forgive us, to bless us and to use us in His plan. What a great God we have!