Elementary // Hope Week 3
Memory Verse:
"I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit."
Romans 15:13 (NLT)
Definition
Hope: Having confidence in God’s promises
Teaching Truth
People will disappoint, but God always keeps His promises
Questions to Ask Your Child
READ 1 KINGS 18:20-39
Look at verse 21. What question did Elijah ask the people? (The Israelites were going back and forth between putting their hope in the real God and putting their hope in what the false prophets were telling them. Elijah told them they needed to choose one or the other because you can’t put your hope in God along with anything else.)
What contest did he suggest to prove if Baal or God was truly worthy of worship? (They would each prepare sacrifices and whoever’s god set it on fire was the real god.)
What did the prophets of Baal do? (They did whatever they could to get Baal’s attention: yell, dance, prayed to Baal.) What happened to their sacrifice? (Nothing) What did Elijah do differently than the prophets of Baal? (He rebuilt the Lord’s altar with 12 stones, dug a trench around the altar and poured water over everything.)
How does Elijah’s prayer show you that he put all his hope in the Lord and not in himself or other people? (Elijah wanted everyone to see and know who God is.)
How did God show His power? (God immediately sent down fire from heaven) What was left after the fire came down from heaven? (Nothing, the fire burned up the sacrifice and wood and even the rocks and water!)
Activity
Thank God for never disappointing you. Ask Him to help you to trust Him when you’re tempted to put your hope in a person instead of fully on Him. Thank Him for all the promises He has kept and all His promises that are waiting to be fulfilled.