In this session on Old Testament Heroes of the Bible, we are going to hear about a man named Elijah. Elijah was a prophet who delivered messages to the people from God. Elijah loved God very much and wanted everyone to love and follow God too, but lots of people worshipped a statue called ‘Baal’ instead. Let’s watch the video to see what happened:
Story Video:
Time to Think and Pray
Questions
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Why was it wrong to worship the statue ‘Baal’?
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Elijah suggested they have a contest to see who the one true God was. What were the rules of this contest?
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When the people prayed to Baal, why did their altar not catch fire?
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What happened when Elijah prayed to God?
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What does this show us about who God is?
Elijah loved and obeyed God and knew how important it was for everyone to worship him. But evil King Ahab and the people were worshipping a gold statue called ‘Baal’ instead. In the Bible, God tells us that it is wrong to worship any other ‘gods’ but him, so what the people were doing was very wrong. Elijah decided to hold a contest to show everyone who the one true God is. He set up two altars, one for God and one for Baal. He topped them with wood and told all the people to pray and ask Baal to send fire down to light up their altar. They prayed and called out to Baal but nothing happened! Now it was Elijah’s turn. To make it even more of a challenge, Elijah covered the altar in water. Surely this altar would never set on fire now? But when Elijah prayed to God suddenly the altar was set alight with huge flames of fire! It was very clear who the one true God was! Many people saw this and decided to stop worshipping Baal and to worship God instead!
God answered Elijah’s prayer and showed how powerful and mighty he is! Our God is the one true God and wants us to love and worship him, just like Elijah did.
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you that you are the one and only true God! Thank you that you are so powerful you can make fire appear from nowhere! Please help us to love and worship you every day, just as Elijah did. Amen.
This Week's Song: Be Happy!
Elijah Fire Craft
You will need: Scissors, colouring pens or pencils and a copy of the printable template.
Print out the templates and colour both sheets. Cut out the box around the fire picture (do not cut out the fire itself). Cut a slit across the top of the altar picture, wide enough to fit the fire through. Slide the fire through the slit from the back. Pull it up to see fire coming out of nowhere!
Fire Cling Film Painting
You will need: Black or white card; cling film; red, yellow and orange washable paints, any extra decorations such as glitter.
Squirt blobs of each paint colour onto the paper, overlapping the colours. Carefully lay a large piece of cling film over the paper and, with your hands, spread about the paint until it covers the the paper. Carefully peel back and throw away the cling film to see your amazing fire design! You can do this activity using different colours to create different patterns. Leave the painting somewhere safe to dry. Have fun!
