Elijah and the Prophets of Baal Children's Sunday School Lesson

Showdown on Mount Carmel

Use this children’s Sunday School lesson about Elijah to teach kids who the real God is.

 

Needed: Bibles

 

 

Intro Game: Thumb Wrestling Tournament – Have students find a partner. When you say, Go!, each pair of students thumb wrestle. The winners of each match pair up with another winner. The losers pair up with another loser. If someone loses twice, they’re out. The winners keep playing until one student wins the tournament.

 

Play again if time allows. Then, ask, What if God was in a thumb wrestling tournament with the other gods? Who do you think would win? (Explain that God would win because He’s the only God that’s real. The other gods couldn’t even play because they’re not real.)

 

 

Lesson: Say, Last time, we learned about how the prophet Elijah told King Ahab that God wasn’t going to let it rain anymore. Does anyone remember why God wasn’t going to let it rain anymore? (Because King Ahab was worshiping fake gods and not doing the right things that God wanted him to do.)

 

God said that it would only rain again when King Ahab started to believe in Him and do the right things.

 

Today, we’re going to learn about what God and Elijah did next.

 

After three years of not having any rain in the kingdom of Israel, King Ahab was getting desperate. All the grass had died, and they were going to have to start killing the animals because there wasn’t enough grass for the animals to eat or water for the animals to drink.

 

Elijah had been hiding from King Ahab because he was afraid that Ahab would kill him, but now, God told Elijah to go see King Ahab.

 

 

(Read 1 Kings 18:17-24 with your students.)

 

 

So Elijah and the prophets of the fake gods, Baal and Asherah, are going to each kill a bull and put it up on an altar on the mountain. Then, they’re going to pray, and whichever god sends fire down from Heaven to burn up the bull, the Israelites will worship as the real god.

 

Do you think the fake gods, Baal and Asherah, will send fire down from Heaven to burn up the bull, or will the real God send fire down from Heaven to burn up the bull?

 

 

(Read 1 Kings 18:25-29 with your students.)

 

 

Why do you think Baal won’t send fire down from Heaven to burn up the bull? (Because Baal isn’t real. He’s a fake god.)

 

 

(Read 1 Kings 18:30-35 with your students.)

 

 

Why do you think Elijah keeps telling the people to pour water on the bull that he wants God to send fire down from Heaven to burn up? (To make it even harder for God to send fire down from Heaven and burn it up. Elijah wants to prove that God is so powerful, He can even burn up something that’s wet.)

 

 

(Read 1 Kings 18:36-40 with your students.)

 

 

Did God send fire down from Heaven to burn up the bull like Elijah prayed for? (Yes.)

 

And did the people believe in the real God again? (Yes.)

 

It says that Elijah took all the prophets of the fake god, Baal, and had them killed. Why do you think he did that? (Because they were teaching people to believe in the fake gods instead of the real God.)

 

What do you think the prophets of Baal would have done to Elijah if Baal had answered their prayer and God didn’t answer Elijah’s prayer? (They would have killed him.)

 

 

(Read 1 Kings 18:41-46 with your students.)

 

 

What does it mean when it says that the sky started to get cloudy? What was about to happen? (It was going to rain.)

 

God was going to make it rain again because the people started believing in God again.

 

Also, it says that King Ahab rode his chariot back to the city of Jezreel, but Elijah ran in front of the chariot the whole time. How could Elijah run faster than the horses pulling the chariot? (God gave him super speed during that time.)

 

This whole story is about God doing miracles to show that He’s the real God and that He wants people to believe in Him and only Him.

 

 

Game: Race Ya! – Have kids test their speed in a foot race. After the first race, congratulate all the runners and remind them that God gave Elijah the power to run even faster than the horses pulling Ahab’s chariot.

 

Then, you can mix up the race by requiring students to do different things on their way to the finish line. Suggestions include doing jumping jacks, hopping, skipping, doing the crabwalk, spinning, and running backward.

 

 

Closing Prayer: Father God, You are the only God. Help us to respect You and believe in You and follow You as we should. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.