Yahweh Alone Is God BIBLE PASSAGE 1 Kings 18-19 (Elijah on Mt. Carmel and God s Whisper) REMEMBER VERSE God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 SCHEDULE Large Group 35 55 minutes Small Groups 20 25 minutes 1
Welcome// 5-10 min As kids join your group today ask them them lots of questions about snow: have we had enough snow this year, what do they like to do most in the snow, etc.. Let them color the Elijah coloring sheet while you talk. Large Group// 20 35 min 1. Worship Through Music Open Large Group time with singing music to worship Jesus together. 1. 2. 3. 2. Large Group Welcome WELCOME VISITORS- As you welcome everyone to your day together, start by celebrating visitors! If they are a friend then have the regular attender who brought them introduce them to the group. Give all visitors a big round of applause for coming! And have a nearby leader give each visitor a high five AND a gumball (just for coming)!!! CONNECT- To finish up welcome time, let kids engage in today s connect question- our mini ice breaker to get everyone knowing each other a little better! Encourage them to ask someone they might not know yet. After a minute or two, ask several kids to tell their friends answers to the group- Would you rather have the power to control fire, wind, earth, or water? 3. Earning Gumballs This year, we have a new community goal... Gumball Goal! Children can earn 1 gumball for the day by showing one of the following. (One gumball no matter how many things they do). Know the Word- Memorizing this month s memory verse (NO mistakes for older kids!) Share the Word- Bringing a Friend Cling to the Word- Bringing their Bible Give small groups 3-4 minutes to talk amongst themselves and earn their gumballs. After a few minutes bring everyone s attention back together and make note of how we re seeing the gumball machine get emptied week after week! Remember- we get a party together when we empty our machine!! 4. Remember Verse Go over this month s Remember Verse. Open your Bibles and read it together. Tell kids about the incentive for memorizing their verses... Colored tags of the verse they memorized! Earn all 12 this year and make a necklace, bracelet or keychain out of them! God demonstrates (Vertical hand from forehead to chest) his own love (Point finger to heaven then hug self) for us in this: (point thumbs towards chest) While we were still sinners, (hold arms outstretched forward) Christ died for us. (touch middle finger to each hand for Christ, then point thumbs towards chest) Romans 5:8 (open hands like a book) 2
5. Offering As a response of thankfulness and trust in God, we give a part of our money to the church to be utilized in big ways for the Kingdom! It is because we thank God for all that He has given to us, and because we trust Him to provide for us no matter how much or how little we may have. Pass around the Offering Bucket. Remind kids of how God is using our offering this year- to support your overseas sponsor child- Vivian from Kenya! Challenge your kids to continue to give out of what they have so that God might give it to our sponsor child Vivian. 6. Prayer Take a moment to pause, be still, and ask God to quiet your hearts and minds as a room. Encourage kids to quiet their voices and take a seat. Then ask them to pray with you as you begin the lesson. 7. The Big God Story- Yahweh Alone is God Supplies: Audio: 1 Kings 18:36 37, wind, earthquake, fire. Props: 5 thin scraps of fabric, 12 stones, towel, plastic tub, pitcher of water A note for Teachers: In our last two lessons we learned more about the story of David and how God calls us to a greater purpose and can change our hearts. A number of kings that came after David and this week our focus turns to a prophet, Elijah, who lived during the time of King Ahab. God works through the prophet Elijah to teach us that there is only one true God. Though both an amazing display of power and also a gentle whisper God reveals himself as Yahweh: the one true and existing God. Be sure to give enough time to the background at the beginning of the lesson so that the children will know how we got to the story of Elijah. Engage: Throughout The Big God Story, the Israelites experienced God as Yahweh the Lord. Yahweh means I am who I am. Let s say that together I am who I am! What does that mean? (let kids guess) That means that God is saying, There is no one like me or who could be described as me. I am the one true, existing God. I am who I am. God also has no beginning or end. He just is. His character never changes because He never changes. Looking back on all that you ve learned, can you think of some ways God showed Himself to be Yahweh the one true, existing God in The Big God Story? (Ex. Israelites receiving the Ten Commandments, walking through the Red Sea, following God as a cloud by day and fire by night, Ruth and Boaz, ending with David and Jonathan.) Now, we just took some time learning about David and his road to becoming King. Did David worship God as Yahweh? (pause for answers) That s right! He did! And God made David King of Israel. He was a good king, because he knew that the True King was God. Well, there were many kings that came after David and while some of them followed God, there were also kings that didn t follow God. In fact, in our story today, King Ahab, one of the kings after David, made everyone in the nation worship a false god that people called Baal instead of the real God, Yahweh. So on top of a mountain, called Mt. Carmel, all the prophets of this fake god Baal gathered and then Elijah, a prophet of the True God! Real quick- what is a prophet? (let kids answer). A prophet is a person who is able to teach and speak for God. So the prophets of Baal were teaching and 3
speaking lies since Baal isn t real. Okay- back to the mountain. So all of these prophets are gathered and they are going to compete in a contest to see who s god is the real God. What was the contest exactly? To make an altar with stones, and pray that fire would come down and burn up the sacrifice. Only the one true, living God could do that! (Invite a 2-5 kids up to act as the prophets of Baal). The prophets of Baal went first. They prayed for hours (have kids act out each of these in an exaggerated way- join them if they are nervous to act), chanted, begged, and cried out to their false god. They even ripped their clothes (give each child a fabric to rip in half), all in an effort to get their false god s attention. After hours upon hours of this, nothing had happened. The prophets of Baal were exhausted and gave up (dramatically fall to the floor). Elijah teased them (have one child volunteer act as Elijah and stand on the other side of you, looking over at the false prophets. Have him say, is your god sleeping?! has he gone on a trip?! Then Elijah built an altar with 12 stones. (Kid Elijah lays out 12 stones in the plastic tub) He placed the sacrifice on the altar and poured water on it (place the towel on the altar and pour water over it), filling a trench around the altar. Then Elijah prayed, (have kid Elijah kneel in prayer, and play audio of 1 Kings 18:36 37: Lord let it be known today that you are God in Israel Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again. ). Have all prophets go and sit back down. Well what do you think happened after Elijah prayed? Immediately God answered by sending down fire that burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and all of the water in the trench. Wow! And guess what EVERYONE on the mountain did? They fell on their knees and said, The Lord he is God! (1 Kings 18:39). Together, let s pretend we re on the mountain and get on our knees and say, The Lord he is God! (1 Kings 18:39). (Do this together, repeat a few times) You d think that afterward everyone would have wanted to worship Yahweh. But that wasn t the case. So, to completely destroy the worship of false gods, Elijah had to kill all the prophets of Baal so they wouldn t teach about a false god anymore. Now King Ahab didn t like that at all so he set out to kill Elijah! Elijah had to run for his life. After many days of travel, he came to a cave in a mountain. There in the cave, Elijah complained to God because he was exhausted and lonely. Elijah had seen God s display of power at Mt. Carmel, but, in this moment, Elijah needed comfort. So he prayed. And God answered Elijah s prayer but, this time, in a very different way. God told Elijah: Go out and stand on the mountain for the Lord is about to pass by. (Play wind sound effect) Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks but the Lord was not in the wind. (Play earthquake sound effect) Then, a great earthquake shook everything! But the Lord was not in the earthquake. (Play fire crackling sound effect) Next, a fire burned around him! But the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire came shh. (Pause, and encourage the kids to listen.) Did you hear that? (Pause, and whisper.) It was a gentle whisper. Through the whisper, God showed Himself to Elijah as Yahweh, the Lord the gentle and loving God. 8. What does this say about Jesus? Wow, can you imagine what it would be like to see that HUGE fire and then know that God can also speak in a gentle whisper? In this part of The Big God Story, we see that sometimes God reveals Himself in dramatic ways, but other times He speaks quietly. God also spoke to us when 4
He sent Jesus. How did God whisper through Jesus? (let kids answer, Ex. his birth was quiet, he always went alone to pray, in the wilderness, each time Jesus spoke to someone gently). And how did God speak dramatically through Jesus? (his death, when he performed great miracles- calming of storm, walking on water). Through Jesus, we got to see how God speaks to us in person! And sometimes it was dramatic and miraculous! And sometimes it was a gentle whisper. But no matter how God speaks to us or how Jesus spoke, we can be confident that He alone is God. Pray to close. Small Group// 15 20 min. Small group time is not only a time to go deeper into the lesson and find some take home application together, but it is also a time for you to grow in relationship with your kids. As you spend time together the rest of today, go further than just the review questions and the Create project. Spend time asking kids what they thought about the lesson. What surprised them? What questions do THEY have about this part of God s story? How do they learn more about Jesus through this story? What was is their faith challenged by today? Talk about these things as you work on the project. Kids are much more apt to talk while their hands are busy. 1. Review Questions What does Yahweh mean? ( I am who I am ) Who was Elijah? (1 Kings 17:1; 18:22) How did God reveal Himself on Mt. Carmel? (1 Kings 18:36 39) How did God reveal Himself to Elijah when he was hiding in the mountain? (1 Kings 19:11 14) What is your favorite way that God revealed Himself in today s part of The Big God Story? What are some ways we hear God s voice? Has there been a time when God spoke to you? (Leaders, feel free to tell stories.) 2. Prayer After you finish with your review questions read this Bible verse as a blessing and close in prayer. Have one of the children in your group pray, or if you have older kids maybe even take some prayer requests and then do popcorn prayer! Psalm 46:10: Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. 3. Create: God is... SUPPLIES- Tape, rope SETUP- Create one hopscotch game on your floor using masking tape. ENGAGE- Elijah asked the Israelites, Ahab and the prophets of Baal: How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two options? (1 Kings 18:21). Elijah knew that Yahweh alone is the one, true God. Let s play a game that helps us to remember to follow one God only! Ask the kids to pair up, and tie their legs together as if for a three-legged race. Then have them try to complete the hopscotch tied together. Once complete, ask the kids how hard this was to try to do it with two of them. Then untie them and have them do it alone. Being tied together was like trying to hold on to two different options. It didn t work! But when we played hop scotch with just one, it was easier and you were able to finish well. When we try to trust in God, but also trust in something else we will wobble around too in life. Who can think 5
of something else you might rely on besides God? (examples: yourself, mom or dad, money, friends) Let s remember that God is the ONE, true God and we should never waver between Him and something else. Just have fun playing hopscotch the rest of the time! 6