Family Discipleship: Elijah at Mount Carmel
Dear Parents,
Our KidLife Preschool and Elementary Class are currently studying through the entire Bible while focusing on the Gospel. As they learn the incredible stories of Scripture, they’ll be taught how Christ is connected to all of it.
We have a deep desire to come along side you, the parent, and help you disciple your children. We want to help you teach them about God’s Word. Every week, we will send home information about the lesson your child learned. We also plan to include the lesson in our church program and post a weekly summary here, on the Grace Life Blog.
Take the time each day to go over what they learn, memorize the Scripture verse with them, and continue to show them Jesus. The greatest responsibility we have as parents is to disciple are kids and to show them how to follow Jesus. For more information on the importance of Family Discipleship, here’s a quick Facebook Live video or you can listen to this sermon on Family Discipleship from Pastor Matt.
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Here is this week’s summary:
Elijah at Mount Carmel
1 Kings 18-19
Story Point: God showed that He is the one true God.
Big Picture Question: How many gods are there? There is one true God who alone deserves worship.
Christ Connection: The people who worshiped the false god Baal danced and cried out for hours to show that they loved Baal. But the one true God is not like the false gods. We do not have to work hard to show God we love Him. Instead, He showed His love for us by sending His Son, Jesus. Jesus died to rescue us from sin, and He hears us when we cry out to Him.
Key Passage: Isaiah 42:8
Dear Parents,
King Ahab was an evil king. In fact, “Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him” (1 Kings 16:33). God wanted His people to be faithful to Him, but King Ahab led them away from God.
God chose Elijah to get Ahab’s attention. In 1 Kings 17, Elijah told Ahab that a drought was coming. God prevented rain in the land for three years. For Ahab, a man who worshiped Baal—the false Canaanite god of rain and fertility—the drought sent a strong message about the one true God.
When God was ready to send rain on the earth, Elijah appeared to Ahab and instructed him to gather the Israelites and the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel. Elijah challenged the people to choose: Follow God or follow Baal. They couldn’t do both.
Elijah set up a challenge to prove who is the one true God. He faced off against the prophets of Baal. They prepared a bull on an altar and called on their deity to send fire from heaven. The prophets of Baal called and cried and cut themselves, but Baal did not answer.
Elijah poured water on and around his altar. He called to God, and God sent fire from heaven. Everything was burned up! The Israelites could not deny that the God of Elijah is the one true God. Finally, God sent a great rain to end the drought.
Elijah fled from the wrath of Ahab’s wife, Jezebel. He met with God on a mountain, and God revealed Himself to Elijah in a soft whisper. God gave Elijah a friend and successor in Elisha and assured him of 7,000 people in Israel who had not turned to Baal.
The false god Baal had no power. The people who worshiped the false god Baal danced and cried out for hours to show that they loved Baal. But the one true God is not like the false gods. We do not have to work hard to show God we love Him. Instead, He showed His love for us by sending His Son, Jesus. Jesus died to rescue us from sin, and He hears us when we cry out to Him. As you talk with your kids about the Bible story this week, emphasize that only God—the one true God—has power to help His people and to save them. And He saves them through His Son, Jesus.
Check this session’s Activity Page and Big Picture Card as well as the Gospel Project for Kids Family App for ways to interact with the Bible content this week.
FAMILY STARTING POINTS
- Babies and Toddlers
- Elijah prayed for God to send fire.
- God hears us when we pray to Him.
- God showed that He is the one true God.
- There is one God.
- Preschool
- How many gods are there? There is one true God.
- God showed that He is the one true God.
- Kids
- How many gods are there? There is one true God who alone deserves worship.
- God showed that He is the one true God.
UNIT KEY PASSAGE
Isaiah 42:8
NEXT WEEK
“Elijah and Elisha” (2 Kings 2)