THINK TOGETHER
What is sin? Have you ever sinned?
READ TOGETHER
For the past couple days, we have been talking about how God chose Moses to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt and into freedom so that they could worship God. But the evil Pharaoh (king of Egypt) wouldn’t let them go. So God gave Pharaoh ten tests. Ten chances to change his mind. We call them the ten plagues, and boy were they terrible. God turned their river into blood. He sent frogs, and flies, and sickness, and storms. Before each plague Moses would say, “Let my people go!” And after each plague Pharaoh would say, “NO!”
Then came the tenth and most terrible plague of all. God said that because our sin deserves death, he would kill the firstborn son in each family. But God also said that because he is kind and forgiving he would provide a way to escape the punishment. Every family that painted the blood of a sacrificed lamb on the doorposts of their house would be spared the tenth plague – the death of the firstborn. Are you a firstborn son? If so then you would pay close attention to what God said:
Exodus 12:13. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you…
Why did God do this? Because God is perfect he must punish our sin, but because God loves us so much he offers us a hero, a substitute “lamb” to take our place. Do you know who God’s lamb is? That’s right, it’s Jesus. When we trust in Jesus, God no longer needs to punish our sins anymore, because Jesus was punished for them in our place on the cross. And when we know that God loves and forgives us, it makes it easier to forgive others when they hurt us.
Because of Jesus all our sins have been both punished and forgiven when we trust in him.
With Jesus I can forgive others and look past their mistakes.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Watch the ten plagues and/or Passover scenes from The Prince of Egypt. Talk about how serious sin is. What is sin? Choosing to reject God and/or disobeying God. How did God deal with their sin? (both by punishing sin and by offering mercy by the blood)
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, you are my hero and my lamb. Thank you for taking my place and for being punished for my sins. Help me to know I am forgiven, and help me to forgive others. Amen.
TLICfamily 